New Delhi, Jul 2 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday hit out at the Centre over its move to invite private players in passenger train operations, alleging that the government is snatching the lifeline of the poor.

He said the people of the country will give a befitting reply to this.

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"Railways is the only lifeline of the poor and the government is taking it away from them. Snatch whatever you wish to. But, do remember that the people of the country will give a befitting reply to this," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

The Railways on Wednesday formally kickstarted its plans to allow private entities to operate passenger trains on its network by inviting request for qualifications (RFQ) for participation on 109 pairs of routes through 151 modern trains, the national transporter has said.PTI SKC

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)