Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Rahul Gandhi has finally taken over the baton from Sonia Gandhi and assumed the office as the President of the age-old Congress party. Though there was a lot of spar over Rahul’s elevation as the party President and talks about the dynastic politics practiced by the Congress, Rahul was announced the new President on 11 Dec.

As the Congress President, Rahul Gandhi addressed his first press conference on 12 Dec in Gujarat as a part of the last leg of election campaigning ahead of the second phase of the polls on 14 Dec. During the press conference, Rahul alleged that the BJP has carried out only one-sided development. He said that “We created a robust vision for the state. Modiji has done one-sided development… In his last few rallies, Modiji has been talking either about himself, or only the Congress. He used to talk about corruption. But ever since the reports on the Jay Shah case and the Rafale deals came up, he stopped talking about corruption. He doesn’t talk about farmers and education.”

Rahul Gandhi had planned to hold a roadshow today but the event was canceled as the Gujarat Police denied the permission in wake of the law and order concerns. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also scheduled for a roadshow, but he too was not given the permission. After the road show for both the leaders was canceled, Modi, went for plan-B and set off in the seaplane from Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad, while Rahul held a press conference.

Ahead of the press conference the Congress President Rahul Gandhi had also visited the Jagannath temple in Ahmedabad.

During the conference, Rahul confidently claimed that the Congress would win the Gujarat elections. Taking a dig at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said that “Modiji can speak ill of me in whichever manner he desires but as Congress President, I refrain from disrespecting our Prime Minister.”

Responding to a query during the conference, regarding the statements made by Mani Shankar Aiyar, Rahul said that the party took action against Aiyar. He further added that the party suspended Aiyar, but what Narendra Modi said about former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being involved in a conspiracy with the Pakistani delegators, is not acceptable. He added that “As Congress president, my priority will be to strengthen the party and you will see that in Gujarat.”

The Congress President also stated that he wanted to change the political discourse as it had become “nasty and ugly”. Attacking the BJP, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said that Modi had shifted its campaigning from development to the opposition. He said that throughout the election campaigning in Gujarat, Narendra Modi had only spoken about what he did and Congress.

Replying to the questions raised on Rahul Gandhi’s temple visit, he said asked that why he could not visit the temples. He further added that “It’s BJP’s story that I visited temples in Gujarat only. But in fact, I visited Kedarnath temple. Is that in Gujarat? It’s in Uttarakhand.Whenever I went to a temple I just prayed for a golden future for the people of Gujarat, a better development here. Is it wrong to go to a temple? Normally we hold public meetings, but this time we held yatras and in the course of yatras, I visited temples.”

Talking about the vision of Congress for Gujarat, Rahul said that “90% of schools and colleges have been privatised. Now, the Prime Minister no longer talks about corruption or minimum support price to farmers. We are confident that we will win the Gujarat assembly polls. We will do balanced development against BJP’s one-sided development. Irrational economic policies of the BJP government has damaged Gujarat. We will abolish contract labour, fixed pay system in Gujarat. We will never take any decision unilaterally in Gujarat.”

The Congress President also attacked Modi on the failed promises of job creation he said that the people of Gujarat have realised that the BJP is hollow. “What has been done in 22 years in Gujarat? Are there doctors in hospitals in Gujarat? Are there jobs in Gujarat? Small and medium enterprises are job creators but they get no support from the government,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi concluding the conference said that the Congress is fighting the Gujarat assembly elections as a united force.

Responding to the allegations of Rahul Gandhi that BJP is only doing one-sided development, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad refuted the claims of Congress. He also said that the question raised by the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, regarding the dinner and involvement of Manmohan Singh with the Pakistani delegates, Rahul Gandhi has still not given any answer to it.

He also asked the stand of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi regarding the initiatives taken by the Modi government to further make the ban on Triple Talaq rigid? He also requested the Congress party and especially Rahul Gandhi to refrain from spreading the lies and resort from misleading the people in order to save the face. He even said that Rahul Gandhi should do his homework properly before talking about the developmental schemes of BJP and providing false data.

Taking a dig at the Congress leader in his regular visits to the temples, Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned that if he was so religious then why he never visited the Ram Temple in Ayodhya during his election campaigns in Uttar Pradesh. “He didn’t visit the Krishna temple in Mathura either. Then where is this sudden love for temples stemming from?” he questioned.

Earlier today after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, embarked on the seaplane from Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad, Congress mocked the event calling it a ‘Hawa Hawai’. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, on Tuesday, tweeted that “They did not understand development. It is called Hawa Hawai.”