In Pics: Narendra Modi's rally in Uttar Pradesh

Hardoi/Etah (Uttar Pradesh): BJP leader Narendra Modi Monday said in Hardoi all corrupt leaders in the country would have to face trial if he is voted to power in the Lok Sabha elections.Speaking at an election meeting, the Gujarat chief minister said if the BJP forms the government, he would ensure that politicians involved in graft are put behind bars."I will not spare anyone who is corrupt or has a criminal background," he told the gathering, which roared in approval.He added he will ask the Supreme Court to fast track cases against corrupt public representatives and urged the voters to go for clean politics.At another rally in Etah, Modi replied to Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh who Sunday said there was no Modi wave in the country and only Modi poison. "I accept the allegations but the venom is for the thieves and for the corrupt politicians just to destroy them. This venom will only bring purification," Modi said.In Hardoi, blaming the Congress for many ills plaguing the country, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate took a dig at Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, saying the mother-son duo has destroyed India.Adding that Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and state chief minister Akhilesh were out to destroy Uttar Pradesh, he urged the people to send as many BJP candidates to the Lok Sabha as they can."Delhi mein baithi hai maa-bete ki sarkaar aur rajya mein baap-bete ki sarkar, aur dono hi kar rahe hain satyanaash (The mother-son government in Delhi and father-son regime in the state are spelling disaster)," Modi said at the public rally in Hardoi.He also rued the growing lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh and said it is a sad thing that people in the state have more arms than the police.Addressing an election meeting at Hardoi of Uttar Pradesh, Modi said that he had sold tea in the past but he never sold his country. He also rued the growing lawlessness in Uttar Pradesh and said it is a sad thing that people in the state have more arms than the police.Targeting both Congress and SP for practising dynastic politics and nepotism, Modi was quite acerbic in his criticism of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra. “For them all that matters is dynasty and nepotism. And now even even the extended family is being covered. They are those, who are not ready to recognize the power of the community beyond their family members. “These people, who think that that only their sons and daughters will do something and are concerned only with them or their uncle-aunt and insulting the future of Uttar Pradesh,” he said.Mocking Rahul over his visits to the homes of the poor and Dalits, Modi said that he goes to the poor to understand how does a poor person look as he has not seen poverty like someone, who has not seen Taj Mahal visits Agra to see it. “In the same fashion, Rahul Bhaiya visits here to see the poor. These people who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth want to see poverty. They wonder whether the poor have two legs, two hands, does the poor also have a voice. These people go on poverty tourism,” he said. Alleging that poverty is a “tourist destination” for Gandhi, Modi said, “Whenever he goes for this, he is accompanied by a crew of television cameras. He picks up a child in his lap for a good snap and immediately after the photo session is over, the child is put back on the ground.” Seeking to contrast it with his own “poor” childhood, the BJP's PM pick made an attempt to hardsell his tea-vendor image, saying, “I am born in poverty.I know how it feels during a cold winter night. I remember people used to slap me on my face, whenever the tea served by me used to be cold. The scars still remain.”Hitting out at those who “mock” his childhood and poverty, the Gujarat Chief Minister said, “I have no regrets that I was born in a poor or backward family. I feel sad when leaders of SP, BSP and Congress make mockery of it and say whether a tea vendor can run the country. This shows the mentality of these leaders. They have become so haughty that they mock poverty. This does not concern Modi. “What is under question is the mentality of these leaders, who mock my poverty, my childhood every now and then. They should hear it out. I have sold tea and am proud of it. I have not done anything like selling the nation”.