Modi in Gujarat: PM mocks Rahul's ascension and top 10 developments

PM Modi once again visited his home state Gujarat on Sunday, three days after he addressed four campaign meetings for the BJP in the poll-bound state

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday attacked the Opposition party Congress for the "absence of internal democracy" during his two-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat. The Prime Minister's remarks came a day before Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to file his nomination papers for election to the post of party president.  

PM Modi once again visited his home state Gujarat on Sunday, three days after he addressed four campaign meetings for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the poll-bound state. 

For his two-day sojourn, the BJP has organised seven public gatherings, called 'Vikas Rallies', to stress on the ruling BJP's development plank. 

The two-phase Gujarat Assembly elections will take place on December 9 and 14, while the results will be out on December 18. 

Here are the top 10 recent developments in the Gujarat campaign and what PM Modi said during his rallies:

1) Defending his government’s ambitious bullet train project, Modi said it would bring investment and employment to the region. As reported earlier, while addressing a public rally in Bharuch, he said: "Those opposing the bullet train project should travel by bullock carts. We won't mind." (Read more here)  

Modi made the comment while lashing out at the Congress for its criticism of the Rs 1.1-lakh crore project -- which he said was "a negligible price" -- connecting Ahmedabad and Mumbai and to be built by Japan. He said the Congress government, too, wanted the project but failed to get it and so was now opposing it.  

2) Mocking the Congress over the upcoming election of its president, Modi on Sunday alleged the party had a history of rigging organisational polls. (Read more here) 

The outcome of the election to the top post in the Congress was a foregone conclusion, Modi said while addressing a rally in Gujarat's Surendranagar district. "If you do not have democracy in your home (party) how can you practise it in the country," Modi asked. 

According to agency reports, reacting to Modi's remarks, the Congress on Sunday questioned the Prime Minister over "internal democracy" in the BJP, saying that many senior leaders of his party were lost in the pages of history. (Read more here) 

"Dear PM, your love for 'Shahzad','Shah-Zada' and 'Shaurya' is now well known. But nation wants to know when will you reply to the questions raised by senior BJP leaders Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Twitter. "Blinded by rage and enmity, what unimaginable depths would you fall to?" he asked.

"Modiji, do tell Gujarat and country about the victims of yours and Amit Shah's internal democracy in BJP, namely - Lal Krishan Advani, Keshubhai Patel, Hiren Pandya, Kanshiram Rana, Anandiben Patel, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sanjay Joshi, who were compulsorily lost in pages of history."

3) Modi went on to claim that rigging organisational polls was a practice in the Congress party. "Sardar Patel got more votes than Jawaharlal Nehru when the Congress party had (then) met to decide who would be the prime minister of the country. But that election was rigged and Nehru won," he alleged.

This is what happened with Morarji Desai, too, Modi said. "They have a history of rigging elections," he charged. 

4) Modi also accused the Congress of having a history of stoking caste and religious conflicts, dividing communities, disrupting peace and unity, and making Hindus and Muslims fight each other. "The Congress makes brother fight brother... You keep fighting each other, getting killed, and the Congress polishes off the cream," he said. (Read more here)  

Addressing a rally in Bharuch district, Modi lashed out at the Congress, saying that it wanted to create "walls between brothers". 

"The people of Gujarat know what the Congress is up to. It changes colour time and again, creates a wall between brothers," he said.  

5) In Bharuch, Modi took a jibe at the Nehru-Gandhi family over what he said was their claim to have Gujarati origins and for allegedly doing nothing for the state. "What good did they do to Gujarat? Did they even think about project like Roll on, Roll off ferry service? Over the years, the Congress has created divisions between villages and cities, states, between people, between the educated and the uneducated, caste, communities," he said. (Read more here) 

"But since the BJP formed the government in the Centre, all these ailments have gone. When I was the Chief Minister, there was not a single day when they would not hurt Gujarat," the Prime Minister added. 

He said the two districts of Kutch and Bharuch, which have large Muslim populations, witnessed "maximum development during the BJP rule".

6) The Prime Minister also said the government planned to develop some 1,300 small islands and islets around the marine border of the state, many of which are even bigger than Singapore. "Imagine these islands getting developed as Singapore. So, for a better tomorrow of Bharuch and Gujarat, you should vote for the BJP." (Read more here)  

7) Modi also mocked Rahul Gandhi over the allegation that he gave an "enormous piece" of land to an industrialist. (Read more here)  

Making a veiled reference to Gandhi during a rally in Rajkot, he said, "One leader during his speech said Modi gave 48,000 crore acres of land to an industrialist. The area he is talking about is three times the size of land available on the earth. I don't know what to do... to laugh or cry." 

The Prime Minister added, "What can you expect from the Congress" when the person expected to lead the party cannot understand such basic things. 

8) The Prime Minister is on a two-day visit to the state. On Monday, he will visit Dharmapur in Valsad district and then Saurashtra's Bhavnagar, Junagadh, and Jamnagar.  

9) PM Modi will also be visiting the state in three phases after December 6 and he will be addressing more than 24 meetings and rallies.

10) The BJP has been in power in the state since more than 22 years with the major share of that under the tenure of Modi as Chief Minister. But after having ruled for more than two decades, the saffron party is feeling a strong wave of opposition in the form of various agitations from different sections of the society.