Congress Will Listen To Your Mann Ki Baat: Rahul to Gujarat Fishermen

Porbandar: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, addressing fishermen in Porbandar in poll-bound Gujarat, on Friday accused the ruling BJP in the state and Centre of working for a handful of industrialists and expressed confidence that the Congress would form the next government in the state. On a two-day visit to the state, Rahul Gandhi was joined on stage by Bharat Modi, a leader of the fishermen community and till recently a senior BJP leader in the region.

Gandhi told the rally that a Congress government and Congress Chief Minister "will have their doors open for everybody in the state to listen to them". "Modiji tells you his 'Mann ki Baat' but nobody listens to your 'Mann ki Baat'. Congress will win the December elections in Gujarat and will form a government which listens to you and works according to your needs," he said.

"If the Congress comes back to power at the Centre, it would consider setting up an independent fisheries ministry," he said, adding that the BJP government would not consider giving a subsidy of Rs 300 crore to fishermen but "waive Rs 1 lakh crore in debt to big business houses". He said that it is these industrialists who are "marketing for the Modi government".

"This is interesting. A BJP worker here speaks out about your demands from the Congress platform. My dear friend, it is your government, the PM is yours, the CM is yours. Now that you have come here and Congress is going to win in Gujarat, we will listen to you," Gandhi said addressing Bharat Modi.

He hit out at NDA government on the issues of GST and demonetization and how it had affected the common people. The Congress Vice President landed in Porbandar in the morning and visited the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi, the famous Kirti Mandir before addressing a public rally of fishermen.

The BJP on the other hand tried to lash out at the Congress leader on a very flimsy ground -- of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi that almost slipped out of Rahul Gandhi's hand when it was presented to him during his welcome at Porbandar. However, in a quick reflex action, Gandhi grabbed the statue before it fell to the floor and smashed.

A Congressman presented the statute to Rahul Gandhi at the fishermen's rally. The saffron party tried to make an issue out of it, but wrongly claimed that it was a statue of Sardar Patel, and said that like in the past the Congress did not handle Sardar Patel properly, Rahul Gandhi was unable to handle Sardar's statue.

"You could not hold an idol of Sardar or Mahatma. It almost slipped out of your hand. It reminded me of the treatment the Congress meted out to Sardar Patel," Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman quipped, when told that it was an idol of Mahatma and not Sardar, while addressing the media.

Sitharaman also hit out at the Congress, stating that the track record of the party as an opposition in the state was depressing. "The people have rejected the Congress which in the last 3-4 elections has been in opposition. In 2012, they had 57 legislators out of 182. The Congress should have worked such that they could emerge as a strong contender. Instead, they have now been reduced to 43," she said. (IANS)