Rahul mocks PM for picking ‘Reddy gang’

| | New Delhi

Having been challenged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak without a script in any language for 15 minutes about the achievements of the Congress Government in Karnataka, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday challenged Narendra Modi to speak for five minutes on the eight tickets to the “gang” of Reddy brothers. He also demanded answers from the Prime Minister over giving ticket to its chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa.

Rahul put out a video titled “Karnataka’s Most Wanted” on his Twitter account to highlight the issue. The video had photographs of Modi and other BJP leaders with the party’s election candidates, including former Ministers, having cases of corruption registered against them.

“Dear Modi ji, You talk a lot. Problem is, your actions don’t match your words. Here’s a primer on your candidate selection in Karnataka,” he said in the tweet. “It plays like an episode of ‘Karnataka’s Most Wanted’,” he said, using the hashtag “#AnswerMaadiModi”.

The video said, “Dear PM, Will you speak for 5 minutes on 8 tickets to the Reddy Brothers Gang? Making someone who has 23 cases of corruption, cheating, forgery, your CM candidate?”

“When will you speak on your top 11 leaders facing corruption cases?” the video says, carrying pictures and names of BJP leaders Sriramulu, Somashekhar Reddy, TH Suresh Babu, Katta Subramanya Naidu, CT Ravi, Murugesh Nirani, ES EN Krishnaiah Shetty Malur, Shivana Gauda Nayak, R Ashok, Shobha Karandlaje, who are candidates in the upcoming polls. It goes on to accuse Modi of “putting a lid on 35,000 crore illegal iron-ore mining scam of the Reddy Brothers.”

Returning the jibe at Rahul by the PM, the video said, “Awaiting your reply! PS: You can refer to a paper for answers.”

The reference was to Modi’s earlier remarks that Rahul cannot speak for even five minutes without referring to notes. This was Modi’s response to the Congress chief’s challenge to face him in Parliament when he alleged that the prime minister cannot stand for 5 minutes in Parliament if he allowed to speak for 15 minutes.