Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for donning a “₹10-lakh suit” and betraying the poor.
At an election rally at Seelampur in east Delhi, one of the few constituencies the Congress had managed to win in the December 2013 elections, Rahul also accused the BJP of “conspiring” with the AAP to bring down the Congress-led UPA government.
Modi misled people over the issue of black money and made false promises, he said.
“What happened to Modi’s promise of retrieving black money? You did not get ₹15 lakh as promised but Modiji is wearing a ₹10-lakh suit.
“I hope everyone has understood by now that this is a government which only works for a few industrialists. The Congress, as you know, has always worked for the poor,” Rahul said.
The reference was to a suit donned by Modi during US President Barack Obama’s visit.
The fabric of the suit was apparently custom made and inscribed with his own name that ran the length of the suit in pin stripes. Some media reports quoted the price of the suit to be anywhere between £1,000 and £1,500. To tailor a suit, a minimum of 6-7 metres of fabric is reportedly required.
Rahul also accused the AAP and the BJP of having “conspired” against the Congress.
“Has anyone wondered why a number of AAP leaders are joining the BJP now? AAP and BJP leaders ran the Anna Hazare movement which was planned over morning walks at Lodhi Gardens.
“The movement was a selective conspiracy to target the Congress, not corruption,” he said.
The Congress has been making this charge for a while now. At another public rally at Greater Kailash in Delhi on Wednesday, former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma even gave details of the “conspiracy”.
“There was a conspiracy hatched in 2010 by the RSS. The strategy was chalked out by present chief of the National Security Council along with Arvind Kejriwal and a Baba to destabilise the UPA,” said Sharma.
Much commotion The comments incited much commotion with local AAP candidate Saurbh Bharadwaj hopping on to the dais where the public meeting was being conducted. He was welcomed by the local leaders for “having joined the Congress”.
Bharadwaj later attacked the Congress and demanded that such allegations be backed by proof. The BJP too dismissed the allegations.