Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said he would scrap the NITI Aayog if his party is voted to power and replace it with a “lean Planning Commission”.
“It [NITI Aayog] has served no purpose other than making marketing presentations for the PM [and] fudging data,” Gandhi tweeted. “We will replace it with a lean Planning Commission whose members will be renowned economists [and] experts with less than 100 staff.”
The NITI Aayog or National Institution for Transforming India is the government’s policy think tank, which had replaced the Planning Commission after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.
Union minister VK Singh criticised Gandhi, saying the Planning Commission had not delivered when it was in place. “Your party was in power for 60 odd years, and your family’s version of Planning Commission didn’t deliver much,” he said. “Rahul Gandhi, rather than talking about breaking down institutions or tearing up ordinances, think about what you can contribute to the country. Tough ask, eh?”
Gandhi’s comments on the NITI Aayog comes days after its Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar criticised the Congress’ income guarantee scheme for the poor. The Election Commission had issued a notice to Kumar seeking an explanation. In a series of tweets, Kumar said the Congress was “promising the moon to win elections” and that the scheme will “bust fiscal balance”.
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