In the final lap of his campaign blitz in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a sharp attack against Congress President Rahul Gandhi, saying a “dynast” aspiring to be the Prime Minister was sheer “arrogance”.
Addressing back-to-back rallies at different places in the southern state, which votes on Saturday to elect a new government, Modi said Congress leaders were arranging big meetings and conspiring to remove him.
Taking a swipe at Gandhi, Modi said he was day-dreaming of becoming the Prime Minister in 2019.
“There is a leader of Congress who thinks only about one thing throughout the day – how to be the Prime Minister. Such is the arrogance of the ‘naamdhaar’. This naamdhaar (dynast) doesn’t care about others who are standing in the queue.
“He came like a bully, marched his way ahead when there were others waiting with so many years of experience. How can someone just declare himself the Prime Minister? This is simply nothing but sheer arrogance.”
He said Gandhi with an “inflated ego despite losing 25-30 elections in the last four years” didn’t even bother about the leaders who have been waiting for 40 years and about other allies in the UPA.
“The Congress has lost in almost all the states in the last four years. But the ego of the ‘naamdhaar’ is still bloated. He says he will become the Prime Minister in 2019. Isn’t this his ego?”
During an interaction with prominent citizens in Bengaluru on Tuesday, the Congress President had replied in the affirmative when he was asked if he was ready to be India’s Prime Minister if the Congress emerges as the largest party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress hit back at Modi asking him if he thought he was the only one who had the right to be Prime Minister.
“Is Narendra Modi the only one with the right to be the Prime Minister?” Congress spokesman Anand Sharma asked.
Modi also accused the Congress, which has been in power in Karnataka for the last five years, of not doing justice with the aspirations of the people of the state and instead bringing six evils — “Congress culture, communalism, casteism, crime, corruption and contract system” — to the country.
He said Congress leaders were out on bail in a Rs 5,000 crore scam and had “absolutely no respect for many of our prominent institutions like the Election Commission, CBI, Army, Enforcement Director or Vice President’s office.
“The Congress has been on a spree to disrespect and belittle these great institutions,” Modi said, adding that they were were now questioning the judiciary and even calling for impeachment of the Chief Justice of India.
The Prime Minister also attacked his predecessor Manmohan Singh, who on Monday criticized the BJP government for its “disastrous policies” and “economic mismanagement”, leaving the country with crises that were avoidable.
“When Manmohan Singh had his government in the Centre, the remote control was at 10, Janpath (official residence of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi),” he said.
Under his rule, Modi said, it were the people who held the remote control.
The Prime Minister said he would continue to follow the orders of the “high command” — the countrymen, the citizens.
