Bantwal (Karnataka): Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his China visit, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he would remain silent on the Doklam issue during his talks with President Xi Jinping, and wondered where his 56 inch chest has gone. He also slammed Modi over his silence on alleged corruption by BJP leaders, including its chief Amit Shah's son and for declaring B.S. Yeddyurappa, who had gone to jail as its chief ministerial candidate.
“I have heard that he (Modi) is visiting China. You just see, take it in writing from me. China's army is sitting in Doklam and he will not utter a word on Doklam in China, you just watch.” “He (Modi) won't utter a word, this is 56 inch chest. Only hollow words, false promises,” Mr Gandhi,who is on a two-day election campaign tour of Karnataka, told a public rally.
The Congress president spoke of how Mr Modi had hosted Mr Xi in his home state Gujarat and the Chinese troops made an incursion into Indian territory.
“In Gujarat, on the banks of a river, Narendra Modiji sits on a swing with the Chinese president. Chinese president goes back home and puts Chinese army in Doklam. I don't know where his (Modi's) 56-inch chest had gone, Narendra Modi ji did not utter a word,” he said. Chinese soldiers had intruded into Indian territory in Chumar area of Ladakh in September 2014 during Xi's India visit.
The Congress chief, who released the party's election manifesto for the Assembly polls in Mangaluru earlier in the day, said, “Modiji, wherever he goes, speaks his mann ki baat, but our manifesto is not our mann ki baat.... It is the mann ki baat of Karnataka's youth,
women and poor”. He said the manifesto was not prepared by two or three Congress leaders in a closed room, and that people of every district and region were consulted.
Mr Gandhi also said, “Modi ji folds his hands in front of (12th century social reformer) Basavanna's statue, garlands it, and then he gives eight tickets to Reddy brothers.” “He says he stands against corruption.... But then he stands with Yeddyurappa (the BJP's chief ministerial nominee), who has spent time in jail, on one side, and four MLAs who have savoured jail food on the other,” he added.
Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister over BJP allotting party tickets to the Reddy brothers and their supporters, he said, “Modi ji likes changing names. Earlier it was Planning Commission. He changed it to NITI Ayog. Now he has changed CBI's name to Central Bureau of Illegal mining.” He alleged that Reddy brothers looted Rs 33,000 crore through illegal mining.
