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In the years after Mahatma Gandhi, India has only suffered in the hands of “fake Gandhis”, believes Narendra Modi.
“Fake Gandhis have ruined the country. The time has come to wipe out the Congress from India,” the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate said at a mammoth rally in Davangere, Karnataka on Tuesday.
“The Congress was a party of ideas during the time of Mahatma Gandhi, but today it is nothing but a party of fake Gandhis who have ruined the nation,” Modi said as the crowd cheered him on.
Incidentally, Davangere is considered a “lucky spot” to campaign for elections.
In fact, Congress President Sonia Gandhi launched the campaign for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Davangere and her party went on to win the elections.
Without naming Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi directly, Modi said, “A Congress leader had come to Karnataka recently and said that he is concerned about the plight of women. If there is really so much concern then why doesn’t his government do anything about the issue of price rise? When they came to power in 2009, they said they will reduce prices in 100 days. Have they done that? That was just a false promise. The Congress has this tendency of making tall statements”.
He also pointed out that Gandhi had recently claimed that the party did not have a high command.
“Do you believe that? The entire country knows that the party is in the hands of a single family. The whole country knows that there has never been democracy within the Congress,” said Modi
Referring to the controversy over the creation of Telangana after bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, Modi said, “I wonder why Sonia and Rahul come to South India. They came to Karnataka and Kerala, so why not to Andhra Pradesh? Don’t they have the time to heal their wounds, especially after creating them? Don’t they have two kind words for them? This is the height of opportunism. Let them not forget that the people of Andhra Pradesh ensured that the Congress came back to power”.
“The people of Karnataka have given me a lot of love. Now please ensure that the (BJP’s election symbol) lotus blooms throughout Karnataka in every constituency. You do this for me and I shall send the lotus back to you with (symbol of prosperity) Goddess Lakshmi on it,” he said.
While Modi was the star attraction of the show, former Karnataka chief minister and BJP strongman B S Yeddyurappa shared the dais with him and made a short speech.
Yeddyurappa, who had walked out of the BJP in a huff after he was ousted from the CM’s post, only to reconcile with the party later, urged the 2 lakh-strong crowd to vote for it.
Modi took the opportunity to praise the former CM, saying he was responsible for introducing separate budgets for rural and urban areas.