Modi's suits worth lakhs, I wear white t-shirts only: RaGa
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi while campaigning in Satna of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, saying, "The PM wears suits worth lakhs but I wear white t-shirts only." Gandhi added that PM Modi never repeats his clothes. On Thursday, PM Modi in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur urged people to not vote for the Congress for at least 100 years, adding that its leaders were born with silver spoons and indulged in poverty tourism.
Why does this story matter?
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress bigwigs are campaigning intensely in the poll-bound states of Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Telangana. The leaders of both parties are fiercely attacking their opponents, as there seems to be close competition between the country's two biggest parties. However, the BJP is reportedly struggling in all five states, while the Congress is confident of retaining Chhattisgarh and winning back Madhya Pradesh, where its government was toppled after winning the 2018 election.
Congress expert in reverse gear: PM Modi
PM Modi said that the Congress excelled at reversing the country's progress, saying, "The way a vehicle takes us back in the reverse gear, Congress is also an expert of reverse gear and is an expert in converting good governance into a bad one." "Earlier, these Congress leaders used to show India's poverty to their foreign friends. For those Congress leaders who were born with a silver spoon, poverty was tourism," he said.
Gandhi says 90 officials run government
Gandhi accused PM Modi of governing the nation with only 90 bureaucrats, among whom the representation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) was almost nil. "There's a misunderstanding that MP and MLAs run the government. I've seen the government from within. The Indian government is being run by 90 officials along with PM Narendra Modi. These 90 officials allocate the budget of India," he said. He questioned the number of OBCs among the purported 90 officials.
'PM Modi stopped claiming to be OBC after caste census'
Gandhi also referred to PM Modi's recent statement in Chhattisgarh's Durg that there was only one caste in India—the poor. Gandhi said PM Modi came to power by repeatedly claiming to be an OBC, but caste disappeared from the latter's speeches once he started talking about caste census. The Congress has pledged to conduct a nationwide caste-based survey if voted to power, while the BJP has opposed it, accusing the Congress of trying to divide the nation on caste lines.
