Rahul Gandhi seeks answers from Modi on tainted' candidates

New Delhi: War of words intensified between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a few days remaining for the high-stake Karnataka Assembly polls.

Mr Gandhi on Saturday dared Prime Minister Modi to speak for five minutes on BJP’s “tainted” candidates, including its chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa. With just a week left for the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, both Congress and BJP have got into a war of words, challenging each other. BJP is making an all-out effort to oust the Congress government from the state.

“You talk a lot. Problem is, your actions don’t match your words. Here’s a primer on your candidate selection in Karnataka. It plays like an episode of ‘Karnataka’s Most Wanted’,” said Rahul in a tweet.

Earlier Mr Modi had taken a dig at Mr Gandhi asking him to deliver a speech of five minutes without referring to his notes. So Mr. Gandhi attached a small video with his tweet the video says, “Dear PM, Will you speak for 5 minutes on 8 tickets to the Reddy Brothers Gang? Making someone who has 23 cases of corruption, cheating, forgery, your CM candidate?When will you speak on your top 11 leaders facing corruption cases?” the video says, carrying pictures and names of BJP leaders. The video further adds, “Awaiting your reply! PS: You can refer to a paper for answers.”

Mr Gandhi’s tweet is part of the Congress strategy to build its offensive against the BJP around the Reddy brothers. They represent a chunk of corruption allegations that mushroomed during the BJP government led by BS Yeddyurappa. The plan is to blunt the corruption charges that are being levied at the Congress by the top leadership of the BJP.

Mr Gandhi during his campaign in Gujarat Assembly elections last year had termed the GST as “Gabbar Singh Tax”, while in Karnataka he has also invoked other characters from the blockbuster film Sholay and said, “The BJP is playing ‘Sholay’ movie in Karnataka with a ‘Gabbar Singh’ gang featuring the scam-tainted jailbirds of his party as Kalia and Samba,” he said.

The Karnataka Assembly elections are slated for May 12 and results will be out on May 15.