Rahul sharpens attack on Modi over development, personal life

Akbarpur (Uttar Pradesh)/Doda, April 11 (IANS) Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Friday intensified his attack on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying his claims on development were false and magnified.

Addressing an election rally at Akbarpur, in Ambedkar Nagar district, Rahul said: "In Gujarat the textile industry got closed and farmers are dying of hunger. What development are they (BJP talking about?"

In an attempt to boost Congress' prospects in the Hindi heartland, Rahul promised that if Congress is elected to power it would extend its right to food programme to Uttar Pradesh.

"The UPA ensured that children throughout the country get food, but the Samajwadi Party did not implement the programme in UP fearing this might help the Congress in election. But once we are voted to power, we will ensure UP too benefits from the scheme," Rahul said.

Earlier in the day, Rahul addressed a rally in Doda, Jammu, and attacked Modi over his personal life. He said Modi had not once mentioned his wife's name in the past. "Narendra Modi has fought many elections in the past, but not once did he disclose the name of his wife nor even admit he is married," Rahul said.

Modi wrote Jashodaben as the name of his wife in an affidavit while filing his nomination papers in Vadodara, Gujarat for the Lok Sabha election.

"Though their (BJP) posters say in Delhi that they stand for the rights and respect of women, we have a chief minister putting all his efforts on work to spy on a woman," Rahul added, alluding to the reported tracking and stalking of a young woman architect in Gujarat, allegedly on instructions from the chief minister's office. The incident was dubbed 'Snoopgate' by sections of the media.

The Gandhi scion told the rally that his ancestors belonged to Jammu and Kashmir. "I am originally from here because my ancestors belonged to Jammu and Kashmir," he said, referring to his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru's origins.

"We fight elections by uniting the people, while the Bharatiya Janata Party fights elections by dividing them," he added.

He appealed people of Udhampur constituency to vote for the Congress candidate, union minister and former state chief minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Azad and president of state Congress unit, Saif-ud-Din Soz accompanied him.