Rahul, Cong seniors dash to Gujarat to counter Modi

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is making an unscheduled 2-day trip to Gujarat from Wednesday from Somnath to counter a false propaganda unleashed by Prime Minister Modi in the poll campaign.

He has also asked all senior party leaders to rush to Gujarat with facts and figures to demolish Modi’s false claims against the Congress.

Former union minister Anand Sharma had a series of meetings in Surat on Tuesday and he would be campaigning in Navsari on Wednesday while another former minister P Chidambaram is also rushing there on Wednesday. Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala is already camping in Gujarat.

Rahul will pray at the Somnath temple in the morning and then address a rally there. He will be also visiting districts of Gir, Amreli and Bhavnagar during the next two days to interact with citizens and hold public meetings on the issues they are facing, the Congress tweeted.

On Tuesday, it was the turn of Chidambaram to slam Modi’s style of campaign in the Gujarat Assembly elections in a series of tweets.

“Mr Modi’s campaign is about himself, his past and the alleged disdain of Gujarat and Gujaratis. Has he forgotten he is Prime Minister of India,” he asked.

In another tweet, Chidambaram asked: “Why does PM not talk about joblessness, lack of investment, collapse of SMEs (small and medium enterprises), stagnant exports and price rise? Because, he has no answers to the hard reality.”

He said: “The Gujarat election is not about Mr Modi, the individual. It is about the promised achhe din (good days) that has not come in 42 months.”

On Modi taking credit for all he has done for Gujarat, Chidambaram tweeted: “Mr Modi has forgotten that Gandhiji was an Indian and son of Gujarat; Gandhi was, and is, reverred as Father of the Nation; and Gandhiji’s chosen instrument to lead the freedom struggle was the Congress Party.”

He also ridiculed the BJP projecting India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel with another tweet: “PM and BJP may now desperately embrace Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, but the recoubtable Sardar had rejected the BJP’s parent RSS and its divisive ideology.”