SP, BSP, Congress responsible for poverty in Uttar Pradesh: Narendra Modi

Hardoi: Launching a hard-hitting attack on SP, BSP and Congress, Narendra Modi on Monday said the "power game by the clan of three parties" is responsible for the poor plight of Uttar Pradesh and the nation even as he ridiculed Rahul Gandhi for visiting homes of the poor like tourists who visit Taj Mahal.

Playing up his tea-vendor image, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate also sought to contrast it with those "born with a silver spoon in their mouth" and made an oblique reference to his OBC origin as he reached to voters in the Hindi heartland.

Promising to cleanse the political system and Parliament from criminal elements, Modi said that his first job after the formation of a new government will be to set up a committee to probe the pending criminal cases against MPs cutting across party lines.

"While the country has been destroyed by the governments of mother and son, Uttar Pradesh has been destroyed by a father-son government. On one hand there is a father-son duo while on the other hand is Behenji (Mayawati)...they waste their whole tenure of five years in teaching a lesson to each other.

"And mother and son (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi) simply add fuel to the fire, inflame it. This clan of SP, BSP and Congress is thriving here in this manner. Enough of this game of power has continued. Now give me a chance to serve you," Modi said.

Targeting both Congress and SP for practising dynastic politics and nepotism, the BJP leader was quite acerbic in his criticism of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law

Robert Vadra.

"For them all that matters is dynasty and nepotism. And now even even the extended family is being covered. They are those, who are not ready to recognize the power of the community beyond their family members.

"These people, who think that that only their sons and daughters will do something and are concerned only with them or their uncle-aunt and insulting the future of Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Mocking Rahul over his visits to the homes of the poor and Dalits, Modi said that he goes to the poor to understand how does a poor person look as he has not seen poverty like someone, who has not seen Taj Mahal visits Agra to see it.

"In the same fashion, Rahul Bhaiya visits here to see the poor. These people who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth want to see poverty. They wonder whether the poor have two legs, two hands, does the poor also have a voice. These people go on poverty tourism," he said.