Prime Minister Narendra Modi today mocked Congress president Rahul Gandhi after he publicly declared his prime ministerial ambition, and wondered whether the country will ever accept such an "immature" and "naamdar (dynast)" leader for the post.
Taking his attack on the Gandhi family a notch further with barely a day left for the campaign to end, Modi said, "He (Rahul Gandhi) feels that the prime minister's chair is reserved for one family and no one can sit on it. He feels it is an ancestral right (paitruk hak)."
He asked the gathering whether it was not a reflection of the Congress president's "arrogance."
"I want to tell the people to be alert till May 12 (the day of voting)...The Congress shamelessly is using undemocratic means."
About attempts to forge an anti-BJP front, Modi said "big, big meetings are happening, big, big stalwarts are meeting" to remove him from power, "but keeping them all in the dark Rahul Gandhi declared he will be the prime minister."
"But look at their arrogance, it is on cloud seven. He (Rahul Gandhi) is coming here and claiming that he will become prime minister in 2019. If this is not arrogance what it is?"
He said the Congress had also "doubted" the World Bank and global credit rating agencies by saying "Modi has bought these agencies."
Continuing his tirade against the Congress, he called it a "deal party."