Narendra Modi hits back at Sonia, Rahul Gandhi; says both competing 'to tell lies'

Mahuva, Gujarat: Hitting back at UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for questioning the Gujarat development model, BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged that the two were competing with each other "to tell lies".

"There is a competition of telling lies between them. If mother tells one lie, the son tells two. If the son tells two, the mother tells three," Mr Modi said at a rally at Paanch Kakda Maidan in Surat's Mahuva tehsil. (India Votes 2014: Full coverage)

Both Mrs Gandhi and her son had questioned the merit and reality of the Gujarat model of development in the recent rallies. (God save the country from this sort of model: Sonia Gandhi's jab at Narendra Modi)

Countering it, Mr Modi said they were frustrated since "a tea-seller" was challenging their regime. "If this mother-son duo do not mention my name, they cannot digest their food. They are facing trouble. They were running a princely state (until now). Nobody dared to challenge their dynasty for sixty years.

"They suppressed Sardar Patel. Morarji Desai was thrown out like potatoes and brinjals. Now they are frustrated with this tea-seller. Their supremacy has been challenged by a person who sold tea on trains," Mr Modi said.

"Rahul bhaiya, your respected father (the late Rajiv Gandhi) had said in a speech at Bardoli that if Delhi sends one rupee, it is reduced to 15 paisa when it reaches the end-beneficiary. Who was in the government then? Everywhere it was your party, BJP was nowhere in the picture. So what was this 'hand' (Congress symbol) that reduced one rupee to 15 paisa? (Your chowkidar would have been in jail if Lokayukta was in place in Gujarat: Rahul Gandhi)

"In the competition to tell lies, Rahul bhaiya has come out with an imaginary balloon to woo the female voters. I request them to stop lying," Mr Modi added, apparently referring to Mr Gandhi's statements on the snooping scandal in Gujarat. (Read: Rahul Gandhi joins Priyanka in attacking Narendra Modi on 'snoopgate')

The Gujarat chief minister also alleged that his government introduced 50 per cent quota for women in local bodies, but "your (Gandhis') representative", the Governor (Kamala Beniwal), "a woman, stalled it for five years."

Alleging that the Congress government at the Centre imposed a tax of Rs 5,000 on sugarcane farmers of South Gujarat, he said, "Instead of crushing sugarcane juice, this mother-son duo has sucked the blood of farmers."