Modi: Rahul talk of being PM is sheer arrogance'

Chikmagalur (Karnataka): A day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi spoke of his readiness to become Prime Minister if his party does well in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused him of “sheer arrogance” for making such an assumption when the Congress was losing election after election in the country.

Addressing an election rally at Chikmagalur, Mr Modi ridiculed Mr Gandhi’s talk of becoming Prime Minister despite his party’s many electoral losses. “The Congress Party is losing one election after another in the country, yet its president Rahul Gandhi is confident of becoming Prime Minister in the 2019 elections. Is this not sheer arrogance on his part?” he demanded, to a huge roar from the crowd.

Accusing the Congress of being a family-centric party, he said it believed it was “the legitimate heir of the PM’s chair”. Taking his attack on the Gandhi family a notch further with barely a day left for the campaign to end, Mr Modi said: “He (Rahul Gandhi) feels that the Prime Minister’s chair is reserved for one family and no one can sit on it. He feels it is an ancestral right (paitruk hak).” He said the Congress leader was not bothered about his party, its legacy, senior leaders or the country. “From morning till evening, while sleeping and while awake, he has only thing in his mind, and that is the Prime Minister’s chair,” he said.

“The naamdar who does not have confidence in his alliance partners... who doesn’t care for the Congress’ internal democracy, whose arrogance has reached cloud seven, and is declaring himself that he would be Prime Minister in 2019... will the country ever accept such an immature ‘naamdar’ leader?” Mr Modi asked.

Claiming that the Congress was staring at another defeat in Karnataka, he said it should stop blaming tampering of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) for its repeated defeats. “By making such allegations over the use of EVMs the Congress is trying to damage the credibility of elections, when the Election Commission of India has been lauded worldwide for its impartial  holding of polls,”  he said, adding mockingly: “The EVMs are wrong, the Congress is right... the ECI is wrong and the Congress is right.”

Mr Modi also maintained that whenever the party was in legal trouble, it started to target the CBI, the National Investigation Agency and the Enforcement Directorate . “Both former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi are out on bail in a '5,000-crore scam, but they continue to target the judiciary,” he added.

Recalling that late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had contested and won from Chikmagalur in 1978, he asked: “Did she ever visit the constituency after winning the election? Likewise, her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi contested and won from Ballari in 1999 and announced a '3,000-crore package for it. But did the constituency get the funds  despite the Congress Party being in power in the state then?”

Mr Modi also wanted to know if Amethi had seen any development although Mr Rahul Gandhi has represented it in Parliament since 2004. “Now he is campaigning in the state speaking about the development of Karnataka. Do you need such a family, party and leaders?” he demanded, as the gathering responded with a loud “No”.