Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced Monday that his party would ensure minimum income guarantee for every poor in the country if it returns to power after the Lok Sabha polls due in April-May. “The Congress has decided to take a historic decision… The Congress-led government is going to give minimum income guarantee. This means, each poor person in India will have minimum income. This means there will be no hungry, poor people in India,” Gandhi said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Congress, if voted to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, would implement a minimum income guarantee for the poor of India.

The Congress president made the promise while addressing a public meeting in Chattisgarh’s Raipur. He also subsequently tweeted about it. Party sources said a minimum income guarantee for the poor, and not universal basic income (UBI), would be the key manifesto promise of the Congress party for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. They said the details would be made public in a calibrated manner in the weeks to come.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram, the chairperson of the Congress party’s manifesto drafting committee, said the party will explain its plan in its manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.