Modi says Rahul's PM remark is dynastic ‘arrogance'
Chikmagaluru (Karnataka), May 9: In the final lap of his campaign blitz in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a sharp attack against Congress President Rahul Gandhi, saying a "dynasty" aspiring to be the Prime Minister was sheer "arrogance".
Addressing back-to-back rallies at different places in the southern state, which votes on Saturday to elect a new government, Modi said Congress leaders were arranging big meetings and conspiring to remove him.
Taking a swipe at Gandhi, Modi said he was day-dreaming of becoming the Prime Minister in 2019.
"There is a leader of Congress who thinks only about one thing throughout the day - how to be the Prime Minister. Such is the arrogance of the 'naamdhaar'. This naamdhaar (dynasty) doesn't care about others who are standing in the queue.
"He came like a bully, marched his way ahead when there were others waiting with so many years of experience. How can someone just declare himself the Prime Minister? This is simply nothing but sheer arrogance."
He said Gandhi with an "inflated ego despite losing 25-30 elections in the last four years" didn't even bother about the leaders who have been waiting for 40 years and about other allies in the UPA.
"The Congress has lost in almost all the states in the last four years. But the ego of the 'naamdhaar' is still bloated. He says he will become the Prime Minister in 2019. Isn't this his ego?"
During an interaction with prominent citizens in Bangalore on Tuesday, the Congress President had replied in the affirmative when he was asked if he was ready to be India's Prime Minister if the Congress emerges as the largest party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress hit back at Modi asking him if he thought he was the only one who had the right to be Prime Minister.
"Is Narendra Modi the only one with the right to be the Prime Minister?" Congress spokesman Anand Sharma asked.
Modi also accused the Congress, which has been in power in Karnataka for the last five years, of not doing justice with the aspirations of the people of the state and instead bringing six evils -- "Congress culture, communalism, casteism, crime, corruption and contract system" -- to the country.
He said Congress leaders were out on bail in a Rs 5,000 crore scam and had "absolutely no respect for many of our prominent institutions like the Election Commission, CBI, Army, Enforcement Director or Vice President's office.
"The Congress has been on a spree to disrespect and belittle these great institutions," Modi said, adding that they were were now questioning the judiciary and even calling for impeachment of the Chief Justice of India.
The Prime Minister also attacked his predecessor Manmohan Singh, who on Monday criticized the BJP government for its "disastrous policies" and "economic mismanagement", leaving the country with crises that were avoidable.
"When Manmohan Singh had his government in the Centre, the remote control was at 10, Janpath (official residence of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi)," he said.
Under his rule, Modi said, it were the people who held the remote control.
The Prime Minister said he would continue to follow the orders of the "high command" -- the countrymen, the citizens.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
