At Nagpur, Rahul Gandhi says Narendra Modi speaks lies because he is ‘old and in a hurry’

Nagpur: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that unlike Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is “old and in a hurry”, he was not interested in telling lies.

Addressing a poll rally in Nagpur, the Congress leader asserted that he was in politics for the long haul and “here for another 10 to 15 years.”

“I want to build a long-standing relationship with you. I will not speak lies. Modi has grown old and is in a hurry. So he is telling lies,” Rahul said.

The Congress president said that he did not lie since lies gets exposed sooner or later, and added that his party works while the BJP “only makes hollow promises”. Polling will be held in Nagpur in the first phase on 11 April. Union minister Nitin Gadkari of the BJP is pitted against Congress’ Nana Patole in the Lok Sabha constituency .

Making a strong pitch for the ‘NYAY’ minimum income guarantee scheme of his party, Rahul said all economists have told him that the scheme to deposit Rs 72,000 every month in the bank accounts of the poor was feasible and can be implemented without hurting India’s economy.

“The ‘NYAY’ scheme is a surgical strike by Congress on poverty. Every Indian should get a minimum of Rs 12,000 every month,” he said, adding the Congress government will provide enough funds for the scheme.

Corruption, unemployment and farmers’ problems were the priority issues for elections this time, and Modi should explain what he had done to tackle them in the last five years, he said.

He reiterated his challenge to Modi to take part in a 15-minute open debate on corruption, economy and national security with him. “He (Modi) will not be able to show his face to you since he knows he can’t answer questions. This is the reality,” he said.

Unemployment in the country has reached a 45-year high, the Congress president claimed.

Hitting out at Anil Ambani, Rahul said the industrialist had no money, no expertise in defence manufacturing and all his businesses had failed. “Despite this, Anil Ambani got the biggest defence contract (under the Rafale deal). His brother saved him from going to jail,” he said.

“Why should Anil Ambani get the Rafale contract and why not somebody from Vidarbha (region where the poll rally was held),” Rahul said.

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