I can make tea, play drums, I can become PM: Azam Khan

He may be a strident critic of Narendra Modi but Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan says he shares many of his qualities like “making tea”, “dressing properly” and “playing drums” and is a “fit candidate” to be the country’s prime minister.

“I have all the qualities to become the Prime Minister. I can make tea, play the drum, cook food and I wear proper clothes. Besides, I am not all that bad looking or am I corrupt,” he said at an e-rickshaw distribution function here.

Mr Khan took jibes at Mr Modi for his “chaiwala” beginnings, his “monogrammed suit” and his drum-playing episodes in Japan and Tanzania.

“If I become Prime Minister, I assure you, I will deposit `20 lakh in accounts of 130 crore people within six months. I am not like those who don’t keep their promises,” he said in an apparent dig at Mr Modi over his poll promise of depositing Rs 15 lakh each in the account of every Indian.

“Nobody would have been poor if the money was deposited. People would not have to come here to take e-rickshaws to earn a livelihood but would have been ‘crore-patis’ (millionaires),” he said.

“A rickshaw-puller always faces difficulty in getting his daughter married because the probable groom’s family rejects the proposal because of his social status and work,” he claimed.