New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept up his attack on Rahul Gandhi Wednesday, questioning whether the Congress leader had taken poll money from industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, whom he had otherwise continuously “abused” over the past five years.
At a rally in Telangana, Modi said Gandhi had abruptly stopped talking about the industrialists after elections were announced, and demanded to know whether this was the result of a “deal”.
“For the past five years, soon after their Rafale deal was grounded, Congress’s Shehzada would chant the names of ‘five industrialists’… And then he started focusing on ‘Ambani-Adani’. ‘Ambani-Adani’. But he stopped the abuse the moment polls were declared,” Modi said.
“I want to know from the soil of Telangana, Raeeszaada ghoshit karein iss chunau mein yeh Ambani-Adani se kitna maal uthaya hai? (He should announce how much money he has received from Ambani-Adani)” Modi said.
He asked the details about these “deals” be revealed by the Congress — whether many bags of black money had been taken, whether tempos-full of notes had reached the Congress? “Kya sauda hua hai jo aapney raato raat Ambani-Adani ko gaali dena bandh kar diya? Zaroor daal mein kuchh kaala hai (what is the deal that has happened that you have stopped abusing Ambani-Adani overnight. Something is surely up),” Modi said.
He added Gandhi’s sudden silence meant that he had received “chori ka maal” (stolen funds) for the elections. “You must answer to the public,” he blasted.
#WATCH | In his address to a public meeting in Telangana's Karimnagar, PM Narendra Modi says, "'Shehzada' of Congress, since his issue of Rafale grounded, he started talking about '5 industrialists' all the time in the last five years…later he started saying 'Ambani-Adani', but… pic.twitter.com/lIbSURkY1C
— ANI (@ANI) May 8, 2024
This is the first time the PM has mentioned the two top industrialists in an election speech, almost turning the Opposition’s criticism about them on its head.
In the past, the Congress, especially Rahul Gandhi, has attacked Modi and the BJP for favouring industrialists, accusing the government of waiving loans worth thousands of crores while penalizing farmers and the poor over small loans.
Also attacking the Congress and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi over graft Wednesday, the PM said the only glue that bound the two together was corruption. “Both of them accuse each other of corruption. But, through the backdoor, both are part of the same corruption syndicate,” he said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Telangana CM violated poll code, defer Rythu Bharosa payment: EC