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A day after Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi questioned the Gujarat model of development, saying Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would have landed in jail if the state had put in place an effective Lok Ayukta and Right to Information Act, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra mocked Modi for his remark that it needs somebody with a "56-inch chest" to transform Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP) in a strong riposte, released a film and a pamphlet, Damad Shree, which listed the alleged illegal land purchases of Priyanka's husband Robert Vadra in Haryana and Gujarat. Calling it the "Vadra model of development", BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad asked the Gandhis to explain the patronage given to Vadra that helped him convert a Rs 1-lakh investment into a business empire worth Rs 300 crore in a short time. In Jhansi, Modi likened Rahul to a TV comedian.
Notably, both sides claimed their attacks on each other were driven by "public interest".
The Election Commission has issued fresh guidelines advising people from making "malicious" statements about private lives of individuals. This comes in the backdrop of Yoga guru Ramdev's "honeymoon" remark on Rahul and the Congress' questioning Modi for having concealed his marriage in his previous election affidavits. The EC said those violating the directive would not be allowed to hold meetings or programmes for the duration of the poll process. It also cautioned people against involving religion or organising congregations, yoga camps in favour of a party or candidate.
In Rae Bareli, Priyanka suggested that Modi was unfit to run the country. "A 56-inch chest is not needed to run this country; a big heart is needed to run it. To run this country, cruel force of power is not needed, but moral strength is needed. It needs an internal strength."
She, hinting at assassinations of her father Rajiv and grandmother Indira, said: "Such type of strength is needed, which could even sacrifice life to save the culture of the country".
On Saturday, Rahul told a rally in Gujarat that the "chowkidar", that is Modi, would have been in jail if the state government had appointed an effective Lokayukta and implemented the RTI Act. Sonia, at a rally in Punjab on the same day, said: "God save the country from the Gujarat model."
The BJP responded to Gandhi family's criticism of the Gujarat economic model by releasing an eight-minute film and a six-page booklet, Damad Shree: the Vadra get rich quick model, in Delhi on Sunday.
BJP leader Prasad said the Vadra model of illegal land deals, which had help from Congress governments in Gujarat and Haryana, was a "textbook case of corruption and crony capitalism under state patronage and violated environmental and land laws". He said the BJP government in Rajasthan was investigating these land deals.
In a reply to Priyanka, Prasad said: "What moral strength was needed to set up such a huge business empire, what kind of large hearted patronage was given to make this business model flourish in such a short time?"
The booklet with charges, many of which had earlier been raised by the Aam Aadmi Party, listed several of Vadra's illegal land dealings which Prasad alleged were helped by Congress governments in Rajasthan and Haryana. He said a key bureaucrat in Haryana who helped with this allegedly illegal land deals was "rewarded" by being made a member of the Union Public Service Commission.
On his part, Modi told a public rally in Jhansi that he didn't take Rahul's allegations seriously. Modi likened Rahul to a popular television comedian Kapil Sharma. Modi rejected Rahul's charges about Gujarat government having failed to appoint a Lokayukta or implement RTI. He said Rahul needed to do his homework.
There was trouble within the Congress as well. Satyajit Gaekwad, a former Youth Congress president, issued a statement blaming "baseless spin doctors" close to the Gandhi family for the party's failure to effectively take on Modi. He termed these Congress leaders "toothless tigers".
"The so-called baseless spin doctors in Congress corridors having close proximity to the high command and all those who enjoyed the power and pompous celebrity status were seen as toothless tigers when it came to fighting the communal forces," said Gaekwad.
194 SEATS STILL AT STAKE
* Polling is over for 349 seats
* Crucial 194 seats remain
* 89 seats go to polls on April 30. Prominent states/region in this phase are Punjab (13), Telangana (17), Gujarat (26), UP (14), Bihar (7) and West Bengal (9)
* 64 seats vote on May 7. These are Seemandhra (25), Bihar (7), HP (4), UP (15), Uttarakhand (5), J&K (2) and Bengal (6)
* 41 seats go to polls in the last phase on May 12, comprising Bihar (6), UP (18) and Bengal (17)
