NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already addressed eight rallies in Haryana, which will go to the polls on October 15.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi opened his account on Thursday by holding rallies in Firozpur Jhirka and Rewari, abutting the national capital territory.
Modi has flayed the Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government over several issues, including Robert Vadra’s land deals and dynastic politics. Rahul returned fire on Thursday accusing Modi of lifting controls on drug prices at the behest of US companies, leading to cancer medicines costing over Rs 1 lakh instead of the previous Rs 8,000.
Accusing Modi of taking the decision before his visit to the US to please American companies, the Congress scion said that diabetes drugs have become unaffordable.
“He is working for big industrialists and very soon the country will be run only for them,” he told the gathering. Rahul said Congress politics and policies were framed for farmers, labourers and the underprivileged.
In an attempt to give a positive spin to his campaign, Rahul coined a new slogan for Haryana -- Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Pahalwan -- this was in reference to a several world-class wrestlers the state has produced.
He said the Congress was proud of the party-ruled state’s development and attacked the BJP for its claim that the state lagged behind in progress.
Haryana is number one in Gross Domestic Product and milk production, he claimed.
“Modi’s charge that the Congress did nothing in the last 60 years is an insult to the farmers and labourers who have toiled hard all these years to help the country progress,” Rahul said even as he accused the BJP government at the Centre of working to dilute welfare laws introduced by Congress, like the Land Acquisition Act and MNREGA.
Taking a dig at Modi over the Chinese incursions, he said, “It is easy for some people to speak, but walking the talk is difficult.”
He also blamed Modi for not raising the issue of incursions during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit.
On truce violations by Pakistani troops, Rahul accused the government of “doing little” even when people were “dying” because of the firing from the other side of the border.
Patting the Hooda Government, he claimed the Congress rule had converted Haryana into an education hub.
Rahul called the BJP’s election winning ‘Acche Din’ slogan a damp squib.