Congress President Rahul Gandhi addresses a public meeting at Ramdurg, Karnataka. (Congress Twitter) Congress President Rahul Gandhi addresses a public meeting at Ramdurg, Karnataka. (Congress Twitter)

Launching an all-out attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday questioned why the self-proclaimed “chowkidar” of the country was mum on the Punjab National Bank fraud and corruption allegations against BJP chief Amit Shah’s son Jay. Accusing the PM of favouring industrialists, Gandhi said despite the Centre hardselling its “zero corruption” stand, there was no Lokpal appointed to fight graft. “Whatever you do, you do it for people like Nirav Modi. You give thousands of crores money to super rich people in the country; while in Karnataka we give seven kg rice at free of cost to the poor,” he said at a rally in Karnataka’s Ramadurga area.

Gandhi, who is on the second leg of his three-day tour of the poll-bound state, left no stone unturned in criticising the Centre over various issues, ranging from the Rafale deal to the Vyapam scam. Speaking at his second rally of the day at Karnataka’s Saundatti area, Gandhi alleged that the defence minister was buying fish in Goa while PM Modi went to France to sign the Rafale agreement. “The defence minister was in Goa and buying fish when PM Modi was in France inking the Rafale deal. He didn’t even know about the agreement,” Gandhi said, in an apparent reference to Manohar Parrikar.

Hitting out at the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, the Congress President said the Vyapam scam involving alleged irregularities in the 2012 pre-medical test had brought the education system in Madhya Pradesh to its knees. “The Vyapam scam has destroyed the education system in Madhya Pradesh and the BJP government is responsible for it,” Gandhi said.

“UPA chose HAL for building Rafale. Thousands of Karnataka’s youth would have got jobs. PM Modi visits Paris, signs a new deal & gives the contract to his crony friend. HAL has been making planes for 70 years. Modi’s crony friend has ZERO experience”: @OfficeOfRG #RafaleScam — Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) February 26, 2018

Recalling that Modi promised to create two crore jobs before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi asked how many youths got employment from the central government. “Where are the jobs? What is being made in India when everything from watches to shirts to shoes you buy are ‘Made in China’. In fact, the Congress government in Karnataka created 50,000 jobs when the NDA could not provide even one lakh jobs across the country,” he said.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi interacted with local farmers Bhimayya and Shakuntala at Sunnal, Karnataka. (Source: INC/Twitter) Congress President Rahul Gandhi interacted with local farmers Bhimayya and Shakuntala at Sunnal, Karnataka. (Source: INC/Twitter)

Throughout his past rallies, Gandhi has tried to woo the Lingayat community, a traditional BJP support base. It was no different on Monday, when the Gandhi scion quoted the philosophy of Basaveshwara, the founder of the community, to question policies of Modi. “Modiji… nudidante nade (practice what you preach). The country has not made you prime minister just to give speeches,” Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi offers prayers at the Renuka Yellamma Temple in Saundatti, Belagavi. (Source: INC/Twitter) Rahul Gandhi offers prayers at the Renuka Yellamma Temple in Saundatti, Belagavi. (Source: INC/Twitter)

Attacking the prime minister on GST, which the Congress president has been calling “Gabbar Singh Tax”, Gandhi said whatever was in the common man’s pocket had been taken away, lakhs of businesses shut and lakhs of people had suffered losses. “But one person runs a magical new business… Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah within three months converts Rs 50,000 to Rs 80 crore, but the chowkidar does not utter a word,” he alleged.

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