Globe-trotter Modi flew to Pakistan to have biryani, says Priyanka Gandhi

AYODHYA: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on her maiden visit to Ayodhya launched a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he went globetrotting, but never visited a village in his constituency, Varanasi, in his five years in power.Blunting the nationalistic rhetoric of BJP, she accused Modi of “going to Pakistan for biryani”. “ Pakistan biryani khaane toh woh gaye tha na,” she retorted, in a reference to Modi’s trip to Lahore on December 25, 2015, which was followed by fidayeen attack on Pathankot air base a week later.

Priyanka, who was on a three-day Awadh region tour — Amethi, Rae Bareli & Ayodhya — to give a leg-up to Congress ahead of Lok Sabha polls, was replying to a query outside an Ayodhya school on the BJP charge that Pakistan would celebrate if Congress won the 2019 poll.

Earlier, addressing a gathering in Ayodhya’s Adilpur, she took swipes on Modi’s hug diplomacy while meeting foreign leaders. “ Woh America, Japan, China, sab jagah gaye poori duniya mai. Par aapse kisi se na mile (He toured the world, but didn’t come to meet you),” she said“The PM didn't have the time to meet his own constituents. It shows this government's intention. It only focuses on the rich,” she said.

She also broke her silence on Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY), saying NDA government initially reaped benefits of UPA’s flagship project, MNREGA, but stopped implementing it when they saw credit going to Congress.

“They wrote off more than 3.7 lakh crore off bad loans. I want to first ask them how it was achieved,” she asked.

Continuing her tirade, she said, “Before the 2014 Lok Sabha election, they said they will give jobs to two crore people every year. Wherever I go, wherever my car stops, I can’t find a youth who is employed. Also, BJP said they will put Rs 15 lakh into people's accounts. Now, when the election is around the corner, they have started sending Rs 2,000.”