‘BJP’s magicians are campaigning in Guj’

BAYAD(GUJARAT): Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP is scared in Gujarat this time.

“I read in the paper that the BJP is deploying magicians for campaigning, but why do they need them when they have an expert magician in Narendra Modi? They have been doing jadoo for 22 years but this time he may fail.” On the second day of his two-day Gujarat tour, Gandhi held public meetings and roadshows in the state’s north and central regions, including three crucial tribal districtsof Aravalli, Mahisagar and Dahod.

Alleging that the BJP government was favour ing big industrialists, Gandhi promised that a Congress government, if voted to power, will be for labourers, farmers and small-time businessmen. He also accused the government of caring little for the unemployed .“While five -10 industrialist shave seen all the growth under the Mo di government, Gujarat has 30 lakh unemployed youth,” he said.

The B JP was quick to respond to the jibe. Its media cell circulated a video on social media with a caption, “Rahul Gandhi is caught fa king unemployment figure. Gujarat is leading in the sector of employment generation. Rahul Gandhi should apologise for misleading and maligning people of Gujarat”.

Addressing the concerns of the tribals, Gandhi said, “In 2007, Modi promised ₹15,000 crore for tribal development. Next election in 2012, he came back with a bigger promise of ₹40,000 cr ore. Now five years later, he may come again and say though we didn’t give anything twice, this time I will give ₹1 lakh crore.”

The Congress V-P began the day by visiting the family of late Congress leader Mirza Irshad Baig and called on former CM Madhavsinh Solanki too. In Lunawada, he hit out at the government over the Rafale deal.

“Hindu stan Aeronautics Limited has manufacturing experience. But this industrialist who got the deal has not made a single aircraft,” Gandhi said and demanded an answer from the Prime Minister. He also hit out at the BJP’s development model. “Gujarat is developed because you have worked hard for it. But what Modiji has done is take away your money, water and land, and give it to a few industrialists,” he said.