Rahul turns focus to Delhi civic polls, targets Modi, Kejriwal

New Delhi: Setting the tone for the Congress campaign for the upcoming civic polls in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for their "politics of making false promises".

Addressing a convention of Congress workers in New Delhi, Gandhi accused Modi and Kejriwal of running "individual-centric" governments and "causing losses" to the country and Delhi respectively through their governance.

Attacking Kejriwal, Gandhi dubbed him as the "king" who calls shots only in the AAP.

He promised that the "voices of the people of Delhi" will be heard in civic bodies when his Congress comes to power there. The civic boy polls are likely to be held in April.

Gandhi took on the two leaders over the issue of combating corruption and asked the Prime Minister to first end corruption in the three corporations being ruled by the BJP.

Targeting Modi over the recent killings of Indians and Indian-origin people in the US, the Congress vice president asked why the Prime Minister was silent on the issue.

Rahul alleged that Modi was "scared" to speak up to the superpower on the issue.

"Both Modi and Kejriwal engage in politics of making false promises. They have caused loss to the country and Delhi respectively (by their individual-centric governance). They have wasted the country's time," Gandhi said, as he listed poll promises Modi and Kejriwal made ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha and 2015 Delhi assembly polls respectively.

Reiterating his recent "Ganga" barb against Modi, Gandhi said Modi had in the run up to the last general polls promised that he would clean Ganga, Varanasi, construct ring road, offer free internet, solar lights, build Bhojpuri film city and generate employment "if elected as PM".

"Banaras (Varanasi) has made up its mind...Banaras has understood that Modi had lied to its people two-and-a-half years ago. No matter how many visits he makes to the city, the people of Banaras are going to defeat Narendra Modi and BJP in the assembly polls there. This is the truth," Gandhi said.

The Congress leader charged Modi with not keeping the "promise made to youngsters" on generating two crore jobs a year.

"Modi talked about giving jobs...when we asked about it in Parliament, a BJP minister said only one lakh jobs created last year, while this year not a single job has been created...One person cannot change the entire country," he said, taking a dig at Modi.

Similarly, Gandhi alleged Kejriwal thinks that he can "single-handedly" change Delhi.

"I want to ask what has Kejriwal government done for sanitation workers, street vendors? What has he done for contractual staff in the Delhi government? When slums were being bulldozed in Delhi, you saw me and (Delhi Congress chief Ajay) Maken there, and not Kejriwal," Gandhi said.