In a “weather report” ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to poll-bound Gujarat on Monday, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said that “rhetoric will rain down on the State”. His swipe came in anticipation of Mr. Modi announcing a series of sops for the State before the announcement of the poll dates and the kicking in of the model code of conduct.
“Weather report: Ahead of elections, Gujarat will today have rain of rhetoric,” Mr Gandhi tweeted , translating it as “jumlon ki barish” in his Hindi tweet. He also tagged a report headlined “As Gujarat waits for poll date, State gets projects worth nearly ₹12,500 crore” in his tweet.
This comes in the wake of the Congress accusing the Modi government of “putting pressure” on the Election Commission (EC) to not simultaneously announce dates for elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The party has alleged that if the EC had announced assembly elections in Gujarat along with those in Himachal Pradesh, the model code of conduct would have come into force with immediate effect, leaving no opportunity for the BJP to announce any sops for voters in Gujarat.
Elections in Himachal Pradesh will be held on November 9, and the results will be announced on December 18. Chief Election Commissioner A.K. Joti has said the Gujarat polls will be held before December 18, even though the dates are yet to be announced.
