Playing up his tea-vendor image, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate also sought to contrast it with those “born with a silver spoon in their mouth” and made an oblique reference to his OBC origin as he reached to voters in the Hindi heartland.
Promising to cleanse the political system and Parliament from criminal elements, Modi said that his first job after the formation of a new government will be to set up a committee to probe the pending criminal cases against MPs cutting across party lines.
Targeting both Congress, BSP and SP for practicing dynastic politics and nepotism, the BJP leader was quite acerbic in his criticism of Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra.
“For them all that matters is dynasty and nepotism. And now even the extended family is being covered. They are those, who are not ready to recognize the power of the community beyond their family members.”
In a fresh broadside at Narendra Modi and the BJP, Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the country does not need a government that makes “Hindus fight Muslims” and imposes ideas of one state on another and instead looks for a “pro-poor, secular government”.
“You must ensure that a pro-poor, secular government comes to power at Delhi. We don’t need a government that promotes hate and anger. We don’t need a government that makes Hindus fights Muslims,” he said while addressing an election rally in Ramanathapuram.
The country also does not want a government that “imposes ideas from one state on another,” Rahul said in an apparent reference to Modi’s assertions that the Gujarat model of development would be replicated in the rest of the country once the BJP comes to power at the Centre.
Taking a dig at the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Rahul said that while modi talks of the Gujarat model of development, he should witness the Tamil Nadu model, indicating that the southern state fared better, a claim made by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
“Tamil Nadu has not only shown India but the rest of the world what Tamil people are capable of doing.
Mr Modi talks about the Gujarat model, maybe he should come here and take a look at the Tamil (Nadu) model,” he said.