Iran's Interior Ministry, which is the body responsible for organizing and supervising presidential elections nationwide, has riposted the critics of President Ahmadinejad's "charity policies", Press TV reported
Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, in a pre-sermon speech delivered at Tehran University -- the venue for Friday prayer -- defended the president's distributing money among the poor, Mehr news agency reported.
Mahsouli slammed Ahmadinejad's critics saying, "Is it correct to degrade distributing money among the poor, those who have no means of sustenance, and calling it charity policies?"
He added that those who oppose the idea of giving money to the needy are following a western model of growth and development, which prevents governments from helping the poor.
In a recent meeting with a group of leading industrialists and businessmen, reformist presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi outlined his economic plans and highlighted the key role of the private sector in boosting production and creating jobs.
The former prime minister rejected what he calls Ahmadinejad's "charity policies," and explained that from his point of view, expanding the middle-class and empowering the poor would be a more effective way to deal with poverty.
The critics of the incumbent president's initiative in disseminating money among the less advantaged assert that such help needs to be rationalized and institutionalized for it to be effective in abolishing poverty. If not, they argue, this tact is both unsustainable and clearly inefficient.
The opponents of the "charity campaign" note that it has had the least effect regading the growth and development of the nation as a whole.
In April, Mahsouli dismissed reformist presedential candidate Mehdi Karroubi's criticism leveled at Ahmadinejad regarding his provincial tours.
"According to the Constitution, Mr. Ahmadinejad started his work as president in 2005 for a four-year tenure; hence he is carrying out his legal responsibilities, including traveling to the provinces and convening cabinet sessions [at those venues]," Mahsouli noted.
Earlier the minister noted that all necessary measures will be in place to fulfill the government's Constitutional duty to hold free and fair elections on June 12.