Chief Minister Narendra Modi, popularly called as 'CEO of Gujarat', has attempted an image makeover for being 'pro-poor', by organising 'Garib Kalyan Melas' across the state even as the Opposition dubbed it as a facade and "tamasha". Modi, who chose to bring over his image change mid-way of his five-year term, has already held atleast 25 of the 50 'Garib Kalyan Melas' in the state where he claims have given benefits of various government schemes to poor people directly without involvement of any middlemen.
However, Opposition Congress has strongly criticised this shift from "pro-rich" to "pro-poor". "The attempt by orgainsing such Garib Kalyan Melas is surely of image makeover from being called pro-rich to pro-poor, but the Chief Minister will not succeed in it. He is trying to follow Rahul Gandhi but people know BJP's truth," Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.
"The poor people have traditionally voted for Congress while the vote bank of BJP is upper class. The Chief minister is trying to woo poor people by organising such tamasha," senior Congress leader Arjun Modhvadia said. The Oppositon in the state had mounted a concerted attack on Modi during the 2007 state election campaign and also in the run up to 2008 Lok Sabha elections calling him a 'CEO Chief Minister' working for benefits of industrialists and ignoring the poor.