Future of India, Bihar to be determined by poll outcome: Sonia

Says voters of Bihar will decide whether India would move towards 'divisiveness or harmony'

The future of both Bihar and the country would be determined by the outcome of the "crucial" polls in the state, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said today while sharply attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi whom she described as an expert in "packaging and repacking".

Voters of Bihar will decide whether India would move towards "divisiveness or harmony", she said at a poll rally in Kahalgaon near here as she tore into Modi's 16-month rule which she described "harmful" for the country.

Taunting Modi "for spending more time abroad than at home", the Congress President said had repackaged old schemes of the previous government and represented them as new packages because he was an "expert in packaging and repackaging".

She also raked up the issue of reservation, which has become a major talking point in Bihar polls against the backdrop of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's call for review of the quota policy.

Without taking RSS' name, Gandhi said, "there is match fixing going on between Nagpur and BJP. But I want to tell you that Congress is committed to Constitutional provisions on SC, ST and OBC quotas."

Calling the ensuing Assembly elections as "decisive, Gandhi said, "Bihar is at crucial crossroads. From here will be determined the future of both Bihar and the country. You have to decide whether from here on the country will move towards divisiveness or harmony."

"Modi is trying to mislead the people of Bihar. The package he announced is more farcical than real. What is the truth of this package?

"Prime Minister, an expert in packaging and repackaging, has simply rehashed old schemes of previous governments and presented them as a new package. What not he has said to belittle the people of Bihar," she said, asking people to choose whether they are with secular forces or those which divide the country.

Targeting the Prime Minister on his foreign trips, she said, "Narendra Modi loves going abroad very frequently. He loves embracing famous people but he has no time for the poor. He should go abroad but should stop playing politics of pretension with the people who reposed faith in him.