Rahul Gandhi takes cue from Arvind Kejriwal to attack Narendra Modi?
New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi seems to have taken a cue from Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal when he said that Vajpayee-Advani partnership of yesteryear has now been replaced by Modi-Adani one, referring to the alleged land sale to the industrialist Adani group at low prices.
Kejriwal has earlier made umpteen allegations against Gujarat CM Modi paying favours to industrialist Adani in the run-up to elections.
“Earlier there used to be Advaniji. If you remove ‘v’ from Advani, it will become Adani,” Rahul said in a statement which resembled much to what AAP chief Kejriwal had tweeted in March.
Rahul also claimed that Modi had given huge financial loan to Tata Nano which he could have used for education in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, Rahul’s toffee model remark has received numerous reactions from various party leaders.
Making light of ‘toffee model of development’ comment, Gujarat Chief minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi took a dig at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi saying, he hadn’t matured mentally and was still a “child at heart” who only talks of balloos and toffees.
Modi’s remarks were in response to Rahul’s ‘toffee model” of development in Gujarat, where Congress VP alleged that the costly agricultural lands were being given to the industrialists at the throwaway prices as low as Re 1, which can only fetch a toffee.
“It is not Gujarat model, it is a toffee model. Just like you get a toffee in Re1, (industrialst) Adani gets land in Re 1,” Rahul Gandhi reiterated in a rally in Hingoli on Tuesday after first making the same comment in Maharashtra’s Latur on Monday.
Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, who deftly turned Rahul’s remarks into a counter-barb, said that the Congress yuvraj had not matured mentally and was childish.
Modi had earlier mistaken Rahul’s ‘toffee’ remark as ‘trophy’ and went on to deliberate on the significance of trophies flaunting how many trophis had Gujarat model of development had won not just in India but also by the UN.
“He is a child at heart because if he was mature he would have known that over 300 models of the Gujarat government has won toffees (trophies) from the United Nations and the Indian government,” Modi said while addressing the second round of 3D rallies, addressing around 100 locations in 15 states.
In Jharkhand too, Modi didn’t spare Rahul for his “toffee remark” saying how children don’t stick to a single toy for too long” and hence after having used “balloon” for pst few days, Rahul Gandhi had now switched to “toffees”.
Modi was referring to Rahul’s comment on Gujarat model of development being “like an inflated balloon that would burst if pricked”.
Other than NaMo, others too reacted on “toffee model” remark with BJP leader Smriti Irani, saying that such juvenile statements show the quality of leadership in Congress.
Smriti Irani is contesting against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi, which is known to have been a Gandhi-family pocket-borough.
Also, Kiran Bedi reacted saying, on one hand Modi who was a leader with vision talked about ‘Trophy Model’, whereas Congress party (Rahul) had a narrow negligible vision, hence the ‘Toffee’ Model.
What Could Arvind Do ?
After 49 days in office , Arvind Kejriwal resigned as CM of Delhi
Some people say , he is a ” Bhagoda ” ( an absconder ), who ran away from his responsibility to people of Delhi
Now , if you were AK , what would you have done , if you were faced with the following situation ?
> You have promised to people of Delhi , to root-out corruption
> To this end , you have promised to pass Jan Lok Pal Bill
> Business Rules of Central Government say , Delhi Government CANNOT
introduce any bill which has financial implication / burden , without first
seeking OK from the Lieutenant Governor ( LG ) to introduce the bill
> Business Rules are ” Un-Constitutional ” , as per eminent jurists
> But Congress Government at Centre , was NOT willing to drop these
rules , despite a written request from Delhi Government
> LG had no power to give a go-bye to the rules . His only option was to
reject the introduction of the bill , if it was referred to him
> Knowing this too well , Congress / BJP ganged up and insisted that
AK must , first refer the bill to LG and introduce it in Assembly , only if
approved by LG
Did Arvind have any option other than to resign ?
Now suppose , he throws up his hands and tells people of Delhi ,
” What can I do ?
I tried my best but BJP / Congress would not let me introduce the bill ,
citing some un-constitutional rules
Jan Lok Pal Bill must wait till ,
* AAP comes to power at the Centre and drops those Business Rules
( I admit , this is a most unlikely scenario ! )
* AAP government at Centre grants full Statehood to Delhi
So , I have decided to forget the whole matter and continue as CM ”
Those very same people would have said ,
” What business you have to continue as CM , if you cannot fulfill your
promises ?
You are no different than those power-hungry politicians of BJP / Congress
If you have any shame left , you must resign immediately ”
DEAR ARVIND ,
Kuchh to log Kahenge
Logo ka kaam hain kahena
Chhodo ye bekaar ki baante
Kahin bit naa jaye rainaa ( – I mean , Mat-Ganana ! )
* hemen parekh ( 22 April 2014 / Mumbai )