The Election Commission has reportedly issued a notice to NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar seeking details over his remarks on Rahul Gandhi’s minimum financial assistance scheme ‘NYAY’.

Sources in the poll panel said, since Kumar is part of “bureaucratic executive”, such remarks may be violative of the model code.

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“It is not a case of one politician attacking the other or one party attacking the other,” said a functionary.

Kumar had accused the Congress of promising the moon to win elections.

He had also tweeted, saying “The proposed income guarantee scheme fails the economics test, fiscal discipline test and execution test”.

In another tweet, Kumar had claimed that “true to its past record of promising the moon to win elections, Congress President announces a scheme that will bust fiscal discipline, create strong incentives against work and which will never be implemented.”

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. (1/2)#MinimumIncomeGuarantee @PMOIndia @FinMinIndia

— Rajiv Kumar 🇮🇳 (@RajivKumar1) March 25, 2019

Congress party promised #GaribiHatao in 1971, #OROP in 2008, #FoodSecurity in 2013 to win elections, but couldn’t fulfill any of those.
The same unfortunate fate awaits the populist and opportunistic promise of #MinimumIncomeGuarantee. @PMOIndia @FinMinIndia @aajtak @abpnewstv

— Rajiv Kumar 🇮🇳 (@RajivKumar1) March 25, 2019

Kumar is reported to have made similar remarks in an interview also.

In an interview to news agency ANI, Kumar had said that the Congress’s proposed scheme will lead to “a huge fiscal adverse impact on the economy”.

“I wish he (Rahul Gandhi) hadn’t done this. It will lead to our credit rating agencies downgrading our ratings to young status and it will make the cost of borrowing much higher. The Kisan scheme (of the Modi government) is entirely different. That scheme is for very well identified small and marginal farmers,” he said.

“This is the same as in 2008 when their (Congress government’s) finance minister let the fiscal deficit increase from 2 and a half to per cent in one stroke,” the official added.

Rahul Gandhi on Monday announced a Minimum Income Guarantee scheme called Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) under which 25 crore poor people (5 crore families) in the country will get financial assistance of Rs 72,000 per annum if his party is voted to power at the Centre.

Rahul Gandhi said the scheme will supplement the income of those earning Rs 12,000 per month.

The Congress chief called the proposal a “final assault on poverty”.

Reacting to the announcement, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the Congress sop for poor was “a bluff”, and slammed the party for its “history of not doing anything for the poor”.

(With agency inputs)