New Delhi, March 29: The Election Commission on Friday asked the NITI Ayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar to furnish his reply by April 2 over his comments against Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s 'Nyuntam Aay Yojana' (NYAY) promise. Yesterday, Kumar had sought time till April 5 from the EC to respond to the show-cause notice. Earlier, Kumar was to respond by Thursday evening. According to reports, Kumar had sought time till April 5 from the Election Commission to respond to the show cause notice as he was abroad.

Earlier, on Monday, Kumar took a dig at Gandhi for promising minimum income support to poor families if Congress comes to power. Kumar had tweeted, “True to its past record of promising the moon to win elections, Congress President announces a scheme that will burst fiscal discipline, create strong incentives against work and which will never be implemented.”

In another tweet, he said, “that the proposed income guarantee scheme fails the economics test, fiscal discipline test and execution test.” Kumar had also claimed that the cost of the Minimum Income Guarantee scheme at two percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 13 percent of the budget would ensure that the real needs of people remain unsatisfied. According to him, the Congress’ promise on giving the minimum income support, will go from 3.5 percent to six percent. Rahul Gandhi Explains Congress' Minimum Income Guarantee Scheme, Promises 'Rs 72,000 Per Year to 20% Most Poor Families'.

The Congress president on Monday in a press conference said that those earning below Rs 12,000 annually would get minimum income support of Rs 6,000 per month. He added that the move to provide Rs 72,000 annually to poor families would benefit 20 percent of the poor population in India.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 29, 2019 10:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).