Congress 'development' is pretentious: Modi on Indira Gandhi's Morbi visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attacked the Congress Party's 'feudal mindset' yet again, by bringing up a decades-old visit of former prime minister Indira Gandhi to Gujarat's Morbi.

"When Indira Ben came to Morbi, I remember there was a photo of her in the Chitralekha Magazine with a hanky over her nose due to the foul smells, but for Jansangh/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) the streets of Morbi are fragrant; its the fragrance of humanity," Prime Minister Modi said, while addressing a rally here.

The prime minister's latest salvo adds to a string of accusations against Congress' dynastic politics and elitism, a point that the BJP has continually attacked and pitted against PM Modi's beginnings as a tea vendor.

The prime minister further alleged that the work of Congress while in power was mere pretentiousness.

"For Congress, 'development' was giving hand pumps. For the BJP, it is the SAUNI Yojana and large pipelines that carry Narmada waters," he said.

Addressing a rally in Rajkot recently, Prime Minister Modi had taken a similar dig at Congress for making a reference to his beginning as a tea vendor in a picture tweeted by their "volunteer" group last week.

At the rally, he praised his party's work, and said the developmental works by the BJP government in Gujarat were taken up with the motive to serve citizens and not to win polls.

Prime Minister Modi is expected to attend at least 20 public meetings and rallies in the next 15 days ahead of the assembly polls to be held on December 9 and 14.

Gujarat has a total number of 182 assembly seats and the polling will be held in two phases. Voting in 89 constituencies of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region will be held in the first phase while the remaining 93 constituencies in central and northern regions will be held in the second phase. The votes will be counted on December 18.

The Congress is eyeing to dethrone the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state. The last Congress government in Gujarat was led by Chhabildas Mehta from February 17, 1994 to March 13, 1995.