Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi started his Delhi campaign with a rally in the national capital’s Seelampur area, where he targeted both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. As the Congress is up against both the AAP and the BJP, Gandhi said there was no difference between the two leaders as they promised more but didn’t deliver.
Gandhi’s blistering attack was meant to signal to his party men that Congress will aggressively contest the Delhi polls. He had picked up the auspicious occasion of Lohri to start the Congress campaign. As Gandhi selected the Muslim-dominated area, Seelampur, the grand old party signalled that it was aiming to regain its minority vote bank which had shifted to the AAP.
Gandhi said both Modi and Kejriwal had kept mum on the caste census. He said that the AAP convenor was following "Modi's strategy of propaganda and false promises" despite rising pollution, corruption and inflation in the national capital. He said even Kejriwal never spoke a word against billionaires Ambani and Adani.
“We don’t want a country of billionaires,” he said.
Gandhi argued that the poor, whether they were Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Christians, should dream big and head big companies. He questioned that both Modi and Kejriwal have failed to contain inflation.
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Gandhi reminded the audience that he walked the length and breadth of the country for the ideological fight as he waved a copy of the Constitution at the 'Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan' public meeting at Seelampur. The Congress leader said he would protect every Indian from assault, be it Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, or Christians.
Gandhi reminded the people that the Congress government under Sheila Dikshit had performed well. He asserted that the party would ensure Delhi's development as it was in the past under Dikshit's government.
Kejriwal, meanwhile, responded to Gandhi's attack saying while the leader of the opposition was trying to save his party, he (Kejriwal) was trying to save the country.
If the Congress goes on to do well in Delhi, the party to be impacted the most would be the AAP. Ironically, the Congress and the AAP are part of the INDIA bloc. The two parties had fought the Lok Sabha election together in Delhi, but are contesting the assembly polls separately.