Rahul Gandhi yesterday said, "We cannot build a new India while millions of our brothers & sisters suffer the scourge of poverty. If voted to power in 2019, the Congress is committed to a Minimum Income Guarantee for every poor person, to help eradicate poverty & hunger. This is our vision & our promise."

The term 'Minimum Income Guarantee' has since gripped the media commentary to an extent. This is seen as the Congress' answer to Narendra Modi's alleged dream of promising Basic Income for the poor in this year's Budget.

If it's true that the BJP-led NDA government is planning to have such a proposal in its February 1st budget, has Rahul promised a similar thing as a "pre-emptive strike", in order to steal the show? By promising it before Modi has done, the Congress chief must be intending to take the credit for forcing Modi's hands.

While it remains a speculation whether the Budget will have the Basic Income proposal, there is this hypothesis that pro-Congress elements in the bureaucracy have leaked the information regarding about Modi's dream to Rahul. There is no evidence to prove this, though.