PM Modi a 'chowkidar' who lets in thieves: Rahul Gandhi

Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Photo: PTI

KURNOOL: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a 'chowkidar' who opens the door and lets thieves in. Addressing a public meeting in this Andhra Pradesh town, he said that if Modi was a real 'chowkidar' he would have sacked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for allowing fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to leave the country. Gandhi said Modi did not sack Jaitley because he himself was corrupt. The Congress leader cited the Rafale deal in support of his allegation. He said after becoming the Prime Minister, Modi changed the contract signed during the previous UPA government to buy 126 fighter jets. He alleged that the price for each jet was increased to Rs 1,600 crore from Rs 526 crore decided earlier. Gandhi said the contract was snatched from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which had 70 years experience of making aircraft, and given to a private company. He said Jaitley himself admitted that Mallya met him and told him that he was leaving the country. "The only possibility is that the Finance Minister allowed Mallya to leave the country in exchange for something. There was a deal between them." Gandhi said demonetization and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) were aimed at taking money from people's pocket and putting them in the pockets of some of the richest businessmen. Alleging that the Modi government erased NPAs of Rs 1.3 lakh crore of the richest people, Gandhi promised that if voted to power in 2019, farm loan waiver will be the first thing the Congress would do. Addressing the public meeting and earlier interacting with students, he alleged that Modi was disrespecting the people of Andhra Pradesh by breaking all promises made to Andhra Pradesh during bifurcation. Gandhi promised that immediately after coming to power, the Congress would accord special category status to Andhra Pradesh as per the commitment made by the government of India when unified Andhra Pradesh was split in 2014.