Your chowkidar would have been in jail if Lokayukta was in place in Gujarat: Rahul Gandhi

Botad/Devgadh Baria, Gujarat: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday that Narendra Modi would have been in jail had Lokayukta and RTI Commissioners been in place in Gujarat.

"There are no Lokayukta and RTI Commissioners here. The High Court here (had) asked it (state government) to appoint RTI Commissioners. There should have been 10 (commissioners) but there are none here," Mr Gandhi said while addressing a huge rally at Devgadh Baria in Botad town under Bhavnagar Lok Sabha seat.

"In other states, there are Lokayuktas but in Gujarat there is no Lokayukta. The authority, which catches the corrupt, is not in place here," he added.

"The day Lokayukta comes, the day when RTI commissioners are appointed, your chowkidar (watchman) will go inside (jail)," the Congress vice-president said in a frontal attack on Mr Modi who often terms himself as a "chowkidar" in poll campaign who will weed out corruption if voter to power. (Also Read: Gujarat development model a 'toffee model', says Rahul Gandhi)

The appointment of Lokayukta was made in Gujarat after a gap of 10 years in December 2013.

Rahul also hit out at Mr Modi alleging that he speaks lies in his rallies.

"Gujarat gave leaders like Mahatma Gandhi who spent his whole life in search of truth. On the other hand, Modi always tries to find lies and speak lies. He cannot sleep if he does not speak five to six lies in a day," Mr Gandhi said.

Mr Gandhi made the remarks on a day when his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi targeted Mr Modi for his much-discussed "Gujarat model" of development.

"God save the country from this sort of model. It has many problems," she said  at a rally in Punjab's Barnala district. (Read: In Bihar rally, Narendra Modi's 'RSVP' jibe at the Gandhi family)

Mr Modi, 63, is the BJP's prime ministerial candidate and is forecast to lead his party to its strongest-ever electoral result. Mrs Gandhi's son, Rahul, is leading the campaign for the incumbent Congress, which, after 10 years in power, is expected to perform abysmally. (Elections: full coverage)