In Mulayam's den, Rahul Gandhi takes Akhilesh to task on public demand

He kicked off his roadshow from Deoria in eastern Uttar Pradesh to Delhi, starting on September 6

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who on Sunday displayed his strength in the Samajwadi Party's stronghold of Mainpuri, took Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's government to the task, saying the chief minister was paddling "a cycle which is on its stand" that was why the state has failed to move ahead.

However, what is notable is that the Congress leader tried to refrain from criticising Mulayam Singh in his den, but appeared to buckle under public pressure, and appeared to indirectly lampoon Akhilesh to appease them.

"Earlier there was an elephant ruling the state, and that ate all the money. Then you elected Akhilesh, I too was happy that a young leader was elected; however, on the contrary to my expectations, the state failed to progress because Akhilesh is paddling a cycle that is on its stand," Gandhi told the crowd.

Rahul did not stop there and took Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his radar and termed him "anti-poor".

Gandhi said "Modiji never had cold drinks from common shops in India as he drinks American cold drinks only".

Interacting with a shop owner, the Congress vice president told him, "Narendra Modi would never come to your shop to have cold drinks as he only drinks American beverages." "But, you can offer me a cold drink if you wish so, I will be more than happy," he said wittingly.

The Congress Vice-President kicked off his roadshow from Deoria in eastern Uttar Pradesh to Delhi, starting on September 6. His display of strength is expected to traverse 233 assembly constituencies to reach out to people ahead the polls in the state early next year.

Announcing the programme, Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad had said the Congress vice president would travel through 39 districts covering 2,500 km in the month-long exercise.