Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, INDIA bloc candidate from the Varanasi constituency Ajay Rai and others during a public meeting for the last phase of the Lok Sabha polls, in Varanasi.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav addressed a joint rally in Varanasi on Tuesday. The event was to drum up support for Congress candidate Ajay Rai. They targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking the area backward. The fear of defeat in his Lok Sabha seat has caused “his tongue to falter.”
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“The media says Ajay Rai is fighting the Prime Minister of India. But this fight is between the poor and billionaires, Mr. Rai represents the poor,” said Mr. Gandhi. He added that on July 5th, the INDIA alliance government will deposit ₹ 8,500 in the bank accounts of all poor families. “A list of all the poor families of India will be made, the name of one woman will be selected from each family, and on 5th July when you check your bank account, the Indian government will have deposited ₹ 8,500 in it.” Under Mr. Modi the rich grow richer and the poor slip further into poverty. “Narendra Modi waived ₹ 16 lakh crore in debt, now we are going to give crores of rupees to poor families,” said the Congress leader.
Silent on sexual assault
Mr. Yadav questioned the silence of the Prime Minister on the alleged sexual assault inside the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-BHU campus by men linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “Those who were talking about respect for women, and reminding people of certain things, forgot that the people behind the incident were from the BJP,” said the SP leader. He claimed that fearing defeat Mr. Modi had started faltering. “Even the language has changed and, the tongue is faltering due to the imminent defeat in Kyoto, the people of this country do not want to listen to the old stories about happiness and Kyoto.” Mr. Modi had earlier promised to develop Varanasi similar to Kyoto, a picturesque city in Japan.
Ridiculing the slogan of 400 paar (over 400), the SP leader claimed the ruling BJP will struggle to cross 140 seats. “Those who were raising slogans on crossing 400 are afraid of losing 400. This time they are unlikely to reach 140 seats, those who are scared and calling us princes, should listen, this time both the princes are going to checkmate and defeat them,” he asserted.
In Varanasi, Mr. Modi faces the U.P. Congress chief Ajay Rai. Mr. Rai contested the 2014 and 2019 polls, against Mr. Modi and secured third position polling 75,614 and 1,52, 548 votes, in 2014 and 2019. In 2024, he is contesting as the joint opposition nominee
