‘Modi was posing for cameras during Pulwama attack’
Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched his party’s campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Uttarakhand on Saturday, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi was posing for cameras at the Corbett National Park for a documentary when CRPF jawans were being killed in Pulwama. At a rally, in which BJP veteran and former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri's son Manish Khanduri joined the party, Gandhi said his party would introduce a scheme of guaranteed minimum income for the poor if elected to power.
The Tamil Nadu Congress unit on Saturday urged its national president Rahul Gandhi to contest from the southern state for the April 18 Lok Sabha elections, saying he was first proposed as the next Prime Minister from here by the DMK.
TNCC president K SA lag iris aid besides contesting from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi should also select a seat from Tamil Nadu as he cannot be perceived as belonging to just the northern state, but "is seen as an asset of the people of India".
Referring to DMK president MK Stalin first proposing Gandhi's name as the next prime minister in the event of the opposition winning the Lok Sabha polls, Alagiri said the secular alliance cobbled up by the DMK leader had the full support of the people.
"In this backdrop, on behalf of the state Congress unit and the people, I request Mr Rahul Gandhi to contest from anyone of the Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. I am sure the (DMK-led) Secular Progressive Alliance will extend grand support to this plea," Alagiri said in a statement.
He said Gandhi was "acceptable" by the people as a leader beyond religion and caste and therefore, cannot be considered as "belonging only to Uttar Pradesh".
"He is considered as an asset of the people of India. He enjoys the goodwill of all and has dedicated himself to the cause of unity. While contesting from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the north, he should also contest from any one of the seats in Tamil Nadu, which is the southern part of the country," he said.
Alagiri expressed confidence Gandhi will heed to the plea of the people of the state and select a constituency from Tamil Nadu for himself.
By doing so, Gandhi will be seen as a leader "connecting the north and south," and receive grand public support, Alagiri added.
The TNCC leader also flayed Prime Minister NarendraModi for "failing" to keep up his promises on issues, including retrieving black money from foreign havens and doubling farmers' income, and dubbed the AIADMK-led NDA coalition in the state, which includes the BJP, as "opportunistic".
Mean while, the TNCC said it had received 249 applications from aspiring candidates for the nine parliamentary constituencies the party is contesting in Tamil Nadu.
Applications have been received from party workers, asking Gandhi to contest from Sivaganga, Virudhunagar and Kanyakumari, it said in a release.
The release did not however mention how many such applications were received.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi was in Dehradun where he trained his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the PM was busy posing for cameras at the Corbett National Park when CRPF jawans were being killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. Launching his party's campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Uttarakhand, Gandhi also said the Congress would introduce a scheme of guaranteed minimum income for the poor and give bank loans to the youth to set up their own businesses and small industries if elected to power.
BJP veteran and former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri's son Manish Khanduri joined the Congress in the presence of Gandhi at the rally at the Parade Ground here.
"Immediately after the Pulwama attack, in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed, the Congress had said it was with the government and the country. I had cancelled all my programmes. "Everyone knows what NarendraModi was doing when our jawans were being killed in Pulwama. He was posing for the cameras to shoot for a National Geographic documentary," Gandhi said to loud cheers from a large gathering.
"Modi shoots for three-and-a-half hours on a day something like Pulwama happens and he still talks about patriotism," he added.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had rejected the charges when they were first levelled by the Congress.
On the Rafale fighter jet deal issue, Gandhi reiterated his charge of Modi backing industrialist Anil Ambani in getting a related offset contract, a charge repeatedly denied by the government.
"All of you must have heard of Anil Ambani. Can he make an aeroplane? He cannotevenmakeapaperaeroplaneaschildrendo," hesaid, holding up a piece of paper.
"Still, Modi took him along with him as part of his delegation to France to ensure that he got the deal worth ~30,000 crore," he added.
Gandhi asked why the defence deal, negotiated by the previous UPA regime at ~526 crore per aircraft, was finalised by the Modi government for ~1,600 crore apiece.
Reiterating the "chowkidar chor hai" (the watchman is a thief) barb, the Congress president said he had posed four questions to the prime minister in Parliament on the Rafale deal.