NEW DELHI:
The Congress stepped up its offensive against Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the Gujarat elections, as party vice president Rahul Gandhi quizzed the BJP leader on promises made in the last polls.
Gandhi, who will ask Modi a question every day in the run-up to the Assembly polls, brought up the BJP’s 22-year rule in Gujarat and said people were demanding answers. “22 salon ka hisaab, Gujarat mange jawaab (Gujarat demands answers for 22 years of BJP rule), he tweeted.
Seeking to pin the government down on the issue of housing, Gandhi asked the prime minister whether it would take 45 more years to provide new houses to the people of Gujarat. Giving numbers to buttress his argument, he said, “First question to the prime minister on the state of affairs in Gujarat – In 2012, he promised to provide 50 lakh new houses, but provided 4.72 lakh in five years. Will the prime minister tell whether it will take another 45 years to fulfil the promise?”
Congress communications department in-charge Randeep Surjewala said Gandhi would pose a question to the Prime Minister every day. “Rahul Gandhi is asking a question every day, why did mis-governance of 22 years create such a situation,” he tweeted.
At a briefing, Congress spokesperson Deepinder Hooda said he hoped Modi and the BJP would answer Gandhi’s queries on “22 years of mis-governance” in Gujarat. “We expect that the prime minister and the BJP will find time to answer the questions posed to them by Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
Hooda also accused the BJP of working for the “super-rich and middlemen”, alleging that the party’s economic policy was at “the cost of the poor”. The Prime Minister and the opposition leader campaigned in the state for the polls to be held on December 9 and 14.
Gandhi started his two-day visit to the state by offering prayers at the Somnath Temple. He addressed public meetings in the districts of Junagadh and Amreli and will campaign in the Amreli, Botad and Bhavnagar districts on Friday.
