Narendra Modi would have edged out Atal Bihari Vajpayee too, alleges Rahul Gandhi

Karauli: Sharpening his attack on Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi today said the BJP leader would have "ousted" even Atal Bihari Vajpayee like party veterans Jaswant Singh and L K Advani were, had the former PM continued being in public life.

The Congress Vice President took a dig at Mr Modi for his statement at rallies asking voters to make him the "chowkidar" (watchman) of the country, saying the BJP PM candidate was a "chowkidar" only to businessmen and had ousted senior leaders and "brought in Adani". (India Votes: Candidates | Schedule)

"He (Modi) boasts of development in Gujarat but it was not a single man who changed Gujarat. It was the hard work of labourers and farmers who made Gujarat.

"He wants to get the keys (control) of the country in his hands but what happened in Gujarat? People gave him keys but he brought in (businessman) Adani," Mr Gandhi said at a public meeting here.

"A group of Sikh farmers from Gujarat told me that their forefathers migrated from Pakistan to Gujarat and they put in their hard work and efforts to make the land allotted to them fertile."

Now, Gujarat government officials have asked them to leave the state terming them as outsiders, he said, adding that the same treatment was meted out to senior leaders in BJP. (Full Coverage: India Votes 2014)

"L K Advani and Jaswant Singh were told 'you are outsiders go from here'. If Atal Bihari Vajyapee would be in public life today, he would also be asked the same thing," he said.