Rahul Gandhi addressed his first press conference as Congress president, after being elected unopposed to the post on Monday. Mr. Gandhi spoke in Ahmedabad on the last day of campaigning for the ongoing Gujarat Assembly elections, ahead of the second and final phase of voting.
Mahesh Langa reports from the venue.
Addressing the internal conflict in his party following Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks, the Congress president said he had made his position clear. "We took action against him. But what Modi ii has been saying about Dr. Manmohan Singh is also not acceptable. As Congress president, my priority will be to strengthen the party and you will see that in Gujarat."
Stating that he wanted to change the political discourse as it had become "nasty and ugly," Mr. Gandhi said that the BJP's campaign had shifted focus to its opponents.
"Why can't I visit temples?" asked Mr. Gandhi on being asked about his temple visits. "It's BJP's story that I visited temples in Gujarat only. But in fact, I visited Kedarnath temple. Is that in Gujarat? It's in Uttarakhand."
"Whenever I went to a temple I just prayed for a golden future for the people of Gujarat, a better development here. Is it wrong to go to a temple? Normally we hold public meetings, but this time we held yatras and in the course of yatras, I visited temples."
Detailing the Congress' vision for Gujarat, Mr. Gandhi said that the development of Gujarat has been "one-sided." He also stressed that the party was confident it would win the upcoming polls.
"90% of schools and colleges have been privatised," he said. "Now, the Prime Minister no longer talks about corruption, or minimum support price to farmers. We are confident that we will win the Gujarat assembly polls. We will do balanced development against BJP's one sided development. Irrational economic policies of the BJP government has damaged Gujarat. We will abolish contract labour, fixed pay system in Gujarat. We will never take any decision unilaterally in Gujarat."
Mr. Gandhi added that election is "won on narrative. Those who don't change their narrative win the polls. If you see, BJP in Gujarat kept changing narrative but failed."
Saying that the people of Gujarat have realised that the BJP is "hollow," Mr. Gandhi asked about job creation in Gujarat. "What has been done in 22 years in Gujarat? Are there doctors in hospitals in Gujarat? Are there jobs in Gujarat? Small and medium enterprises are job creators but they get no support from the government."
Mr. Gandhi also said, "Congress is fighting the polls as united force."