The Congress leader, who has repeatedly attacked Modi on the first two days of his Gujarat visit, referred to former Finance Minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's newspaper article admonishing the BJP-led NDA government over the economy.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi kept up with his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government on the third and final day of his Gujarat visit.
Gandhi, who had embarked on the three-day Yatra in five districts of Saurashtra by offering prayers at the famous Dwarkadheesh temple, offered prayers at the Chotila temple in Surendranagar on Wednesday. He climbed around 1,000 steps to reach the hilltop temple.
The Congress leader, who has repeatedly attacked Modi on the first two days of his Gujarat visit, referred to former Finance Minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's newspaper article admonishing the BJP-led NDA government over the economy.
"Yashwant Sinha has written that Modiji and Jaitleyji have destroyed the country's economy. This is not my opinion. It is the view of a BJP leader," Gandhi said addressing a farmers' meet at Chotila.
The Congress vice president, who is set to take over as party president from his mother Sonia Gandhi in the future, also interacted with rural women at Chobari village. Interestingly, the issue of breastfeeding also came up during the interaction, even as he spoke about his party's commitment to women empowerment.
Gandhi, who has tacitly reached out to Patels during his tour, also offered prayers at the famous Khodaldham temple, the seat of Maa Khodiyar worshipped by the highly influential Leuva Patel community.
He had also offered prayers at a garba venue in Rajkot last night.
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said that Rahul Gandhi's visits to temples during his Gujarat visit are aimed as counters to the BJP and RSS's hard-line Hindutva campaign. He accused the saffron outfits of deliberately portraying the Congress as anti-Hindu.
Attacking Gandhi, BJP spokesperson Raju Dhruv said that Rahul Gandhi started visiting temples as his party is not winning elections in any state. He also pointed out that Congress has set more than two dozen elections under Rahul Gandhi.
A day earlier, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had said that the Congress has to depend on Rahul Gandhi for campaigning as the party does not have a local face.
At a public meeting at Jetpur, his last public engagement of this visit, Gandhi said that Congress will provide a sensitive government in Gujarat. He also promised that the first decision the party will take will be farm loan waiver.
Gandhi is also expected to undertake similar yatras in north, central and south Gujarat ahead of the elections, which are likely to be held in December.
BJP COUNTER
- Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani said the Congress has no “credible” local leaders so it is relying heavily on Rahul Gandhi for campaigning
- The BJP CM also posed a series of questions to Gandhi
- “Congress has no serious issue to take up with people,” he said.
(with inputs from agencies)
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