Hitting back at Modi, Rahul says his mother is 'more Indian than many, many Indian people'

BJP and Modi have no developmental agenda for Karnataka, he says.

On the last day of campaign for the Karnataka Assembly elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi strongly hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raising his ancestral history during a poll rally. He said his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi "is more Indian than many other people in the country."

“My mother is Italian. My mother has lived the larger part of her life in India. She is more Indian than many, many Indian people I see. My mother has sacrificed for this country, my mother has suffered for this country. And it shows the quality of the Prime Minister when he makes such comments,” Mr. Gandhi said at a press conference in Bengaluru.

“Mr Modi has got anger inside of him. He is angry with everybody, not only me. I am a lightning rod for anger, I attract anger. But that is his problem. It is not my problem,” he said.

'PM indulges only in personal attacks'

The BJP and Mr. Modi had no developmental agenda for Karnataka. The Prime Minister indulged in personal attacks and did not raises issues relevant to voters. “Mr. Modi’s personal attacks on me are his problem, not mine. Mr. Modi’s personal comment on my mother show the kind of person he is” he said.

Mr. Gandhi, who has campaigned in the State for the past two months, said the Congress drew from the essence of the aspirations of the State people to create its manifesto. The BJP’s manifesto, however, was crafted behind closed doors and half of it was copied from the Congress manifesto.

“The BJP has not really put down a vision for the State, they have not said what they want to do for the State,” he said.

''While Congress leaders have presented a united front and a vision for the State, the BJP has focussed only on personal attacks against me, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge,'' he said.