Hardik Patel greets Rahul as he kickstarts Gujarat tour

JAMNAGAR/DWARKA: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday kicked off his elaborate people's outreach campaign in BJP's bastion of Saurashtra with a warm welcome from Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel.

"Congress ke rashtriya upadhyaksh Rahulji ka Gujarat mae hardik swagat hai... Jay Shri Krishna (A warm welcome to Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat...)," Hardik tweeted. During his three-day tour, Rahul will visit several areas that had witnessed largescale violence during the 2015 Patidar agitation.

After offering prayers at the famous Dwarkadhish temple in Dwarka, Rahul hit the 150-km road to Jamnagar, stopping intermittently at several places, interacting with people and addressing crowds in villages. He reached out to farmers, schoolchildren, teachers, businessmen and fishermen.

Gandhi launched a scathing attack on PM Narendra Modi over issues ranging from demonetisation, GST, unemployment, black money and the state of education and healthcare in Gujarat. He also latched on to the social media campaign 'Vikas Gone Berserk' against BJP, using some Gujarati words in his speech.

Travelling in a specially designed bus, he stopped at 15 places between Dwarka and Khambhaliya as he got down to greet people and briefly chat with them.

At Hanjrapar village near Bhatiya town, he told the crowd: "Modiji talked about bringing back black money from the Swiss accounts and promised Rs 15 lakh in every citizen's account. He promised employment to 2 crore youths every year. But the fact is only 1 lakh got jobs in the whole country last year. You make impressive speeches and make tall claims. But what about basics like water, electricity, hospitals and schools?"

Mocking the Centre over note ban and digital push, he asked, "Do you use mobile phones, credit cards or cash to buy seeds? Do you pay labourers with credit cards?" Gandhi, who rode on a bullock cart on entering Hanjrapar, tried to woo farmers, saying: "India is being talked about the world over for its growth. But who took this country forward? They were your forefathers... farmers and not big industrialists."