Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Latur, Maharashtra.
In a blistering attack on
Narendra Modi,
Rahul Gandhi today dubbed the Gujarat model propagated by Mr Modi as a "toffee model", saying it has benefited only one industrialist in the state, ignoring the interests of the farmers and the poor. (
Elections: full coverage)
He also said while the BJP talks of empowering women in its election campaign posters, its party activists along with RSS cadres beat up women going to pubs in Mangalore (Karnataka) and the Gujarat chief minister uses his powers and police machinery to tap the phone of a woman.
"Let me tell you about the Gujarat model. Have you heard of Advani. Advani, Jaswant Singh have been sidelined. Now a new neta (leader) has emerged. He is Narendra Modi," Mr Gandhi said at an election rally here.
"Land of Aurangabad's size...45,000 acres...has been given for a mere Rs 300 crore. This is toffee model not Gujarat model. For Rs 1, you get a toffee here. There land was sold at Rs 1 per meter...it was the land of the poor and the farmers," Mr Gandhi said.
He said a loan of Rs 10,000 crore was given to build the Nano car. The amount is more than what is spent on health and education in Gujarat. Taking a dig at BJP's campaign posters on empowering women, Mr Gandhi said that 20,000 women are "missing" in party-ruled Chhattisgarh.