Rahul Gandhi is on a three-day to Amethi, his parliamentary constituency
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hardly seen to miss an opportunity to take pot shots at the Congress that was in power at the centre for decades. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday faulted PM Modi for this approach, commenting that this approach was a sharp contrast to former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and the BJP's own Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Mr Gandhi said politicians normally look ahead to the future.
"Look at Nehru ji, even Vajpayee ji. They used to speak about the future. But look at the current prime minister. He only looks to the past... spreads hatred," the Congress president told a gathering during a visit to the family pocket borough Amethi.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the district saw an intense battle between Rahul Gandhi and BJP's Smriti Irani. Though Ms Irani lost to the Congress leader, her entry reduced Rahul Gandhi's victory margin from some 3.70 lakh votes in 2009 to 1.07 lakh in 2014. In last year's assembly elections, the BJP had won from four of the five assembly segments.
Mr Gandhi blamed the ruling BJP government at the centre and state for taking away the big projects that he had lined up for Amethi. But he nevertheless held out hope that Amethi would be able to more than catch up.
In another 10-15 years, he told them, Amethi would develop so quickly that when people talk of the city state of Singapore and California in the United States, they would talk of Amethi in the same breath.
For now, Mr Gandhi complained, the NDA government had taken away most of the projects including IIIT, mega food-park and the paper mill which he tried to set up and would have provided employment to thousands of youth.
He, however, promised that he would again try to bring back some projects, including the food park, in the interest of local youths. "Unless youths are employed, the country will not progress up to mark," the Congress leader said.