Hitting back at the BJP for its smear campaign against him, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has said he had never seen the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi visit the house of a Dalit, although he may have dined with the rich, such as the owner of the Adani group.
Mr. Gandhi was reacting to Mr. Modi’s comments that he [Rahul] visited homes of Dalits as part of his “poverty tourism.”
On the last day of campaigning in Punjab, Mr. Gandhi addressed a rally at Bathinda in favour of Manpreet Singh Badal. Mr. Badal, despite being the president of the People’s Party of Punjab, has decided to contest on the Congress symbol against Harsimrat Kaur, daughter-in-law of his estranged uncle and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Mr. Modi, he said, had virtually gifted away thousands of acres of land to the Adani group at just one rupee a square yard. Asking if poverty was the reason why Mr. Modi could not eat at a Dalit’s house, Mr Gandhi said Mr. Modi was not only discourteous to his opponents, but adopted double standards on corruption as well. On the other hand, Congress leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, were always respectful while referring to their opponents, he said.
