Rahul Gandhi hits Delhi campaign trail, attacks Modi

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday sought to strengthen the party's campaign for the Delhi assembly polls through a road show where he accused Prime Minster Narendra Modi of promoting his "PR" (public relations).

Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government of doing nothing for the poor people, Gandhi said it was only the Congress party which cared for such people.

Saying that the Congress would contest the Feb 7 assembly polls on three issues of cheap electricity and water, right to shelter, and permanent jobs for contractual employees, Gandhi said: "People are asking when will you (Modi) stop talking and start working? There is favouritism for some, and nothing is being done for the poor."

"Congress is the party of the poor. We will come back because we will keep standing by the poor, hold their hands and take them on the path of development," Gandhi added during the road show.

A mini-truck, with Gandhi and other party leaders atop, drove past thousands on both sides of the over two km stretch which passed through a slum resettlement colony in south Delhi's Kalkaji area, a stronghold which the party lost in 2013 assembly polls.

The Congress is trying to retrieve the ground it lost in 2013 assembly polls. It is wooing dwellers in slums and resettlement colonies -- a traditional vote bank which drifted towards the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Gandhi kept waving to people, as many raised pro-Congress slogans and jostled to see him. He was accompanied by Congress campaign chief Ajay Maken, Delhi unit chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, Sharmistha Mukherjee and former Kalkaji legislature Shubhash Chopra.

At one stopover, Gandhi lifted a boy from the crowd into his truck and held him up while waiving to the gathered public.

He is set to hold a rally in Seelampur assembly segment Thursday. The party has not lost the Muslim-dominated assembly segment for the past two decades. Rahul Gandhi's mother and Congress' president Sonia Gandhi will also hold a public rally in Badarpur Sunday.