Deccan Chronicle

Rahul fumbles again, calls Indira canteen ‘Amma’

- DC CORRESPOND­ENT

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, after launching the state government’s ambitious Indira Canteen, committed a faux pas saying it was a the vision of ‘Amma’, a popular term for former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalith­aa. He quickly corrected it to say ‘Indiramma’.

After launching the first canteen at Kanakanapa­lya at Jayanagar ward 153, Mr Gandhi said, “People who live in big houses and cars can go to any restaurant they want and have whatever they please. But the poor do not have that luxury and these Indira Canteens are for them — the workers, shopkeeper­s, autoricksh­aw drivers, barbers and such.”

He said, “Our Congress government is proud to have come up with ‘Food for All’ concept by providing breakfast at `5, lunch and dinner at `10, which would otherwise cost at least `25-30 per meal.”

After the ‘Amma Canteen’ goof up, Mr Rahul Gandhi’s had another blooper when he requested Chief Minister Siddaramai­ah to open “Indira canteens in every city in Bengaluru”.

He forgot that Bengaluru was a city in itself and repeated the line twice.

Later addressing the media, Mr Rahul launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy, claiming that Mr Modi had made too many enemies in the neighbourh­ood while on the domestic front, “he’s busy dividing his countrymen”.

Mr Gandhi questioned angrily on what the Prime Minister had been doing in the three years since he assumed power.

“He allows his partymen to beat up Dalits, kill minorities and he doesn’t say a word. He has created space in Jammu and Kashmir for Pakistan to misbehave,” the Congress leader told the reporters on Wednesday.

 ?? — PTI ?? Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramai­ah eating food at the newly launched Indira Canteen in Bengaluru.
— PTI Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramai­ah eating food at the newly launched Indira Canteen in Bengaluru.

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