In Hassan, Rahul Gandhi takes on JD(S)

HASSAN: In a no holds barred attack on the Janata Dal (S) in Hassan, the home turf of JD(S) national president and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused the party of acting like the “B” team of the BJP to help bring it back to power in the state. The Congress and JD(S) had failed to strike a pact for the March 23 Rajya Sabha polls jeopardising the prospects of the JD(S) candidate BM Farooq.

Addressing a gathering as part of the Congress party’s ‘Jana Ashirwad Yatra,’Mr Gandhi remarked that JD(S) leaders are under the impression that people will not see through their ‘back door’ politics to help the BJP. “There may be multiple teams of the RSS at work but they cannot stop the Congress from emerging victorious in the polls in Karnataka,’ he said.

Earlier, Mr Gandhi accused the BJP of coming to power by “hook or crook” and added that they had grabbed power in Arunachal Pradesh and Goa using money power. “What BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi do to come to power is known to the whole country,” he quipped and added that people of the country know the methods adopted by the BJP to come to power.

The Congress president also referred to Mr Modi’s promise to deposit Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of every citizen by bringing back black money stashed in foreign banks. “Leave Rs 15 lakh, not even Rs 10 has been deposited in the accounts of people,” he said.

He termed Modi’s “Make in India” programme a flop show and stated that instead, ‘Made in China’ products are being sold in the country. People have started to realise that the Congress is the party for the poor and weaker sections of society, he added. Mr Gandhi delivered his speech in Hindi which was translated by Congress leader BK Hariprasad.