While addressing a public meeting in Rajasthan’s Jalore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig at former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for choosing the Rajya Sabha route to reach Parliament.
Those who cannot win elections have deserted the field and become Rajya Sabha members from Rajasthan, said Modi. Hitting out at Congress, Modi said the party first sent a leader from South (K.C. Venugopal) to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan; then Rajasthan helped former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
“Manmohan Singh was ill for a long time. But was he ever seen here in Rajasthan? Now Rajasthan has again come to Congress’s help. Another Congress leader (Sonia Gandhi) has been elected from Rajasthan to the Rajya Sabha,” said Modi.
Sonia Gandhi was elected a member of the Rajya Sabha unopposed in February from Rajasthan. Before that, she represented Congress stronghold Raebareli in Lok Sabha for two decades and has also represented Amethi for five years.
“Congress was in power for 60 years; once they used to win 400 seats, but today they can’t even find candidates for 300 seats. They are paying the price of their wrongdoing,” Modi said.
At Jalore, Modi lashed out at the Congress as the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections intensified, saying it cannot run the country. He said the “grand old party” was a symbol of instability as it did not have candidates to field in the elections.
There are 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan, of which polling was held in the first phase on April 19 for 12 seats, while on the remaining 13 seats, including Jalore and Banswara, the polling will take place on April 26. Ex-CM Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot is the Congress candidate from Jalore.
“In the first phase of voting, half of Rajasthan has punished the Congress. Rajasthan, which is full of patriotism, knows that the Congress can never make India strong,” Modi said.
“Now they have made an opportunistic alliance in the name of the INDIA bloc which got its wings clipped before it could take flight. The so-called allies are contesting against each other in the states and at least in 25% of seats,” he added.
While taking a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi on Saturday said that he will have to flee Wayanad too this time as he escaped Amethi after losing the seat in the 2019 election.
