Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the state of the economy and accused Congress of being "steeped in arrogance" while dealing with sensitive issues like Telangana and poverty.
Virtually launching BJP's poll campaign in Chhattisgarh which goes to assembly poll later this year, Modi, the party's election campaign committee chief, also attacked Rahul Gandhi for his remarks that poverty is a state of mind saying "it is like pouring acid on the misery of the people".
He drew comparisons between the Congress-led government at the Centre and BJP government's performance in the state to target the Prime Minister on the economy.
"We have a Singh in Chhattisgarh and another one in Delhi. Both are doctors and both are completing ten years in power. While Raman Singh is a doctor in medicine, Manmohan Singh has doctorate in finance.
"With his treatment, Raman Singh has reinvigorated Chhattisgarh, while because of Manmohan singh, our Rupee is in the hospital, precariously hanging between life and death," Modi said speaking at a rally for which a cardboard replica of Delhi's Red Fort was set up to mirror Modi's prime ministerial ambitions.
Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister over the tumbling Rupee, the internet-savvy Gujarat strongman said "I received a photo on a social media website showing Mahatma Gandhi looking through a microscope, trying to find the Rupee and his image on the currency, wondering where they have vanished."
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi too came in for criticism for his reported "poverty is a state of mind" remark.
"There is a leader in Congress who says poverty is just a state of mind and nothing else. His grandmother (Indira Gandhi), who had given the slogan of 'garibi hatao', would have surely been pained. Instead of applying balm on the wounds of the poor, he has rubbed acid.
"Yet, nobody has expressed any regret for the comment. Congress' arrogance is on the seventh heaven," he said, adding "whoever has tried to quell public aspirations, the people have destroyed their arrogance with the power that democracy vests in them.
