Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday lashed out at the BJP stating that its leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi were caught up in the delusion of power and in their heightened arrogance had stopped caring for the welfare of the poor.
Priyanka during a roadshow here shook hands with people along the route and at one point even took a potshot at "defence expert" Prime Minister Modi. She was accompanied by Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Bagel, chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.
She took a pot shot at Modi during the roadshow.
"He is such a defence expert that he decided himself on who will manufacture planes, he decided those who have never made a plane in their lives will make it," she said in an apparent reference to the Rafale deal.
The Congress leader also hit out at the PM apparently for his claim during a recent TV interview where he said clouds and rain can help the IAF fighter jets evade detection by the Pakistani radar during airstrike in Balakot.
"He thought, weather is cloudy, it won't come on radar. But he has come on the radar. Whether it is raining or bright sunshine, everybody now knows the truth of his politics," Priyanka said.
More From This Section
She also hit out at Modi and BJP leaders for their "arrogance".
"Since my childhood, I have seen power from close quarters. I have been seen big-big Prime Ministers, including Indira Gandhi. Whenever a politician thinks that power belongs to him and forgets the people, that very day the future of that politician is sealed," Priyanka said.
"During the last five years, the BJP government, its leaders and their Prime Minister have been caught in the delusion of power. They only see how to keep power with them. They have stopped meeting the people... Their arrogance has increased a lot," she added.
Priyanka also wondered aloud why the Prime Minister did not get time to visit the house of poor people in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.
"During the last five years, Prime Minister Modi got a chance to visit US, hugged Obama , (former US President Barack), beat drums in Japan, hugged the Chinese President, had biryani in Pakistan, but didn't visit the house of a poor person or a farmer in his Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi.
"Have you ever seen him hugging an Indian? A few days back, I saw a photograph of the Prime Minister with a child in the newspapers and felt happy. I thought at least he heard me and kissed somebody's child. But beneath the photograph it was written that it is Amit Shah's grandchild," she said.
"Did you see any BJP leader standing in a queue outside banks during demonetisation? The only leader standing in queue was Rahul Gandhi. They don't understand what impact their policies have on the people. Today, the situation is such that both their intentions and policies are bad," the Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh east said.
She went on to add, "The situation is such that now when elections are taking place, so they have started taking about 40-60 years old things... Nehruji did this, Indira Gandhi did that and Rajiv Gandhi did this... Come to this decade. Bring your feet on the ground, people are asking what have you done for them."
Priyanka lauded her brother and Congress president Rahul Gandhi for hugging the Prime Minister in the Parliament.
"The political power of a politician does not come from big talks, false propaganda. It comes from listening to the voices of the people," she said.
"Rahul Gandhi is one such politician, who has been criticised a lot, has been made fun of, in whose name fake campaigning has been done, but he still had that much inner strength to hug the Prime Minister, who abused him and said bad things about him," she added.