The Congress party’s national president Mallikarjun Kharge, on May 10 (Friday), dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order an investigation into Adani and Ambani’s black money activities.
Addressing a public meeting in Vijayawada to drum up support for candidates of the Congress and Left parties (INDIA bloc), he referred to Mr. Modi’s charge that Rahul Gandhi had stopped attacking his government for being close to industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani since the elections were announced and had asked if the Congress was receiving money from the duo.
“If you are so sure that the Congress is receiving tempo-loads of cash from the two industrialists, why don’t you stop them. Why are there no raids by the ED or the IT officials” Mallikarjun KhargeCongress national president
The AICC president said Rahul Gandhi’s persistent attacks on corporate loot and crony capitalism had put Mr. Modi and his team on the back foot. “If you are so sure that the Congress is receiving tempo-loads of cash from the two industrialists, why don’t you stop them. Why are there no raids by the ED or the IT officials?” he asked.
He said it was time to put an end to the Prime Minister’s “tsunami of lies” and his rhetoric on Hindu-Muslim votes and theatrics on his “chappan inch ka seena” (56-inch chest). “Your 56-inch chest will not satisfy the hunger of the lakhs of the starving population,” he ridiculed and advised Mr. Modi to instead talk about development and the real issues that need immediate attention.
Referring to Mr. Modi’s promise of creating 2 crore jobs every year, the Congress chief said there were 30 lakh vacant posts in government departments. “But he (Mr. Modi) is not filling them because 50% of the posts will go to the SCs, STs and OBCs and the remaining 50% to young people, irrespective of caste and community. The BJP government is not interested in giving permanent jobs,” he said, attributing the reason to “bankruptcy of vision and ideology”. He said the entire country was being run by two pairs of “sellers” and “buyers”. “The Modi-Shah duo is selling away all the public sector units to the Ambani-Adani duo,” he said.
Mr. Kharge slammed the BJP government at the Centre for “misleading people of the nation on the Congress manifesto.“ Our vision is to strive to ensure that people below the poverty line are lifted in the next decade,” he explained.
He said both, the TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu and the YSRCP chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in the State owed their political careers to the Congress party. “Today, they are trying to hurl allegations at us,” he said and urged people to vote for the INDIA bloc candidates in the elections to save democracy and secularism.
CPI(M) national general secretary Sitaram Yechury expressed serious concern over “attempts being made by the BJP government to replace the secular democratic republic of India with a ‘fascist Hindutva nation”. “The four pillars of the Constitution—secular democracy, social justice, financial self-dependence and federalism—are under threat. We all need to respond and stop this dangerous trend,” he said.
Accusing the regional parties, TDP, JSP and YSRCP, of playing into the hands of the BJP, he said these elections are crucial and people should invest a thought before exercising their franchise.
CPI national secretary D. Raja said Modi’s promises made in the earlier elections were “a pack of lies”. He said, “Modi is a demagogue resorting to theatrics, and he is out to redefine India as a theocratic nation. We cannot afford to have such people rule the nation,” he cautioned.
State leaders of the Congress, CPI(M), CPI and Aam Aadmi Party and others were present.
