Sarguja: Sonia Gandhi's speech in Amethi asking people to ensure Rahul Gandhi's victory invited barbs from Narendra Modi today who wondered how the Congress vice president could lead the country when he could not handle his constituency.
The BJP's prime ministerial candidate kept up his sharp attacks on the first family of the ruling party as he referred to a "whopping rise" in the assets of Rahul's brother- in-law, Robert Vadra, and termed it the model of "ma-bete ki sarkar" (mother-son's government).
"Sonia told the people in Amethi to take care of her son. We are told that he will take care of the country. Tell me, is there any logic in this? One who is begging with the people in Amethi to take care of her son...If he can't handle Amethi, then how can he handle the country?," he said at a rally here.
Sonia had told a rally in Amethi yesterday that the people should support the policies of the Congress and ensure the victory of Rahul.
"I have handed over Rahul to you in 2004 following the tradition of Indira Gandhi, who had handed over her son Rajiv Gandhi to you," she had said.
Criticised by the Gandhis for selling people dreams and giving an impression that he had a magic wand to turn around the fortunes of the country, Modi tried to turn the tables as he said he often wondered who they were referring to as they had never named anyone.
He then cited a recent report in a US newspaper on Vadra's fortunes and said sarcastically that he finally realised who the Gandhis spoke of, after reading the story.
"They spoke about a Class X pass youth who had only Rs 1 lakh in pocket and then went on to own Rs 300 crore in three years. This is the mother-son's model. You heard about 2G, now hear about jijaji (brother-in-law). Do we have to leave this country in their hands?," he said.
Accusing Rahul of misleading the country on the issue of women's safety, he said that seven of the top 10 states in terms of crimes against women were ruled by the Congress. "I think the new slogan of Congress is 'har haath loot har bol jhoot' (Loot with every hand, all words are lies)."
Modi also took a dig at the comments made by PM's communications adviser Pankaj Pachauri in a recent media interaction.
"For the first time the PMO had to do a press conference to say what, that the PM spoke 1100 times in 10 years," he said.
He said the PM's "performance" is that he spoke 1100 times in 10 years.
Referring to former media adviser to the PM, Sanjay Baru's book, he said it revealed that it was not Manmohan Singh but "ma-bete (Sonia-Rahul)" who were running the government.
