Corruption, 'parivarvaad', PM Modi targets Congress at Gujarat rally

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 23

In yet another day of high-voltage campaign in Gujarat, the ruling BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi again attacked the opposition Congress, charging it with “corruption”, “parivarvaad” and “sampradayevaad”.

Speaking in Vadodara, the PM said people of Gujarat used to live under fear when the Congress was in power because "anti-social elements” were given protection by the party.

“Electricity and water situation improved under the BJP. Today’s youth and first-time voters are with the BJP because they have seen our party working with a development agenda,” the PM said.

While BJP leaders accused Rahul Gandhi of hobnobbing with activists like Medha Patkar who “blocked waters to the parched region for three decades”, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said targeted Rahul over his appearance, saying “beard makes Rahul look like Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein”.

Comparing Sarma to a “petty troll”, the Congress said public servants needed to maintain “decorum of language and propriety”. Some of its leaders also claimed the “Prime Minister was scared of the success of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is why the BJP was targeting him”.

“The Chief Minister of Assam, unfortunately, sounds like a petty troll when he articulates sentences of this kind,” Congress’ Manish Tewari said, addressing the media in Ahmedabad.

“There cannot be a bigger proof of a government’s inefficiency than the move to change its Chief Ministers,” said Tewari, asking the BJP to speak on real issues than “diverting attention from issues affecting the public like inflation, joblessness, management of the Covid pandemic and corruption.”

The BJP replaced Anandiben Patel with Vijay Rupani, who was then replaced with Bhupendra Patel last year.

Referring to the Morbi bridge tragedy, he claimed the BJP had become “arrogant” and believed it cannot be ousted from power.

On AAP, the Anandpur Sahib MP said the kind of administrative experience, sensitivity and responsibility required to run Punjab, which borders Pakistan, has not been shown by the AAP government. “I would request the people of Gujarat to not repeat the mistake,” he said.

While the BJP is concentrating on the Congress, dismissing AAP as a non-entity, the Congress is concentrating on local issues. While targeting the BJP on local issues, including the Morbi tragedy, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has also been hitting out at Bhupendra Patel, calling him a “puppet Chief Minister who cannot even appoint his peon”.

Pitching for AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhv, Kejriwal called him a “young, educated man whose heart beats for the poor and is also the son of a farmer”.

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