Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi addressed three meetings in Himachal Pradesh on Monday
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Monday responded to the many darts that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had thrown at his party yesterday, accusing the BJP's lead campaigner of speaking "selectively" on corruption and ruining small businesses by his two decisions, last year's notes ban followed by a flawed tax regime.
Mr Gandhi also countered the BJP narrative that PM Modi's home state Gujarat had done much better Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh.
To the contrary, he said citing official figures and a report of the centre's think-tank Niti Aayog, corruption level was lowest in Himachal Pradesh among all states. Also, the hill state had outperformed Gujarat across many parameters such as health, education, job creation, he said.
Quoting his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the congress vice president said: "There are two categories of people; first those who just believe in the working, and second who don't believe in working but are quick in claiming credit".
"Modi ji is very quick in taking the credit but poor in working... but Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh follows the teachings of Bhagwat Gita: Do your duty without thinking about fruits' and worked relentlessly," Mr Gandhi, who addressed three rallies in the state, said.
The Congress leader's swipe comes just a day after PM Modi likened the Congress to "termites" and singled out Mr Gandhi's father, Rajiv and Indira, for reneging on their duty to fight graft during their terms as premiers.
Through his election rallies in Himachal Pradesh, PM Modi has blamed the Congress of going slow on development and called it a party of the corrupt, where the entire leadership is "out on bail".
"Modiji is silent on Jay Shah, silent on Anurag Thakur for illegally grabbing land. Yeddyurappa back in party, Bengal Sharda scam accused Mukul Roy has been welcomed with open arms... but on this Modi says nothing. Modi used to call himself a watchman of corruption. He is not a chowkidaar (watchman) but a bhagidaar (accomplice)," he said.
The PM in his speeches in Himachal, where campaigning for the November 9 elections ends on Tuesday, has defended the ban on high-value currency notes and GST.
Mr Gandhi has attacked both, blaming GST of ruining businesses and squeezing job opportunities. As for the success of the notes ban to penalise the rich with black money, he asked why only the poor had to queue up at banks. Because the rich, he said, were able to get in through the back door that had been left open for them.