Won't let land bill sail through: Rahul

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that his party will under no circumstances allow the passage of the land acquisition bill in parliament.

"We (Congress) will not allow the government to acquire even an inch of land of the farmers and won't let the land acquisition bill to be passed in parliament," he told a Congress convention here.

Parliament's monsoon session is set to begin on Tuesday.

It was the second straight day in Rajasthan that Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

"For the first time we have a government which is helping the opposition by giving them issue after issue," he said.

And targeting Modi, he said: "People, especially the poor and the farmers, will turn the 56-inch chest into 5.6 inches in six months... You just watch."

Gandhi denounced Vasundhara Raje on the issue of former IPL chief Lalit Modi, who he said remote-controlled the Rajasthan government.

"Over 100 years ago there was a remote in London that used to control the government here," he said, in an obvious reference to the British Raj. "Now again a government here is controlled by remote from London."

Gandhi added: "It's not Vasundhara Raje's or BJP's government in Rajasthan. It's Lalit Modi's government.

"They (Raje and Modi) are business partners. She broke the law of this country, helped a wanted fugitive.

"Scams and issues are everywhere in Madhya Pradesh. It's Vyapam (in Madhya Pradesh) and it's Munde in Maharasthra.

"Why is the PM silent, the senior Modi? Bring him (Lalit Modi) back. But after becoming PM, he has forgotten all this," Gandhi said.

Praising the previous Congress government in Rajasthan led by Ashok Gehlot, Gandhi said it provided free medicine to everyone while the present BJP government in the state was closing down hospitals.

On Thursday, Gandhi met farmers and other public representatives in Hanumangarh district, over 400 km from here, and told them that his party was firmly standing by them.