Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh:
Narendra Modi today used Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyar's recent jibe at his modest origins as a tea-seller to attack the ruling party for what he called its "mockery of the poor."
"No Congress leader is willing to accept that a chaiwallah is challenging them. They can attack us ideologically but look at their arrogance, they make fun of our poverty," the BJP's prime ministerial candidate said at a rally in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, some 270 km from Lucknow.
"This isn't just about the tea-seller comment. They claim it is possible to get food for Rs 12.They make jokes about poverty. They mock the poor."
He contrasted that with what he said was the BJP's priority to empower the poor.
"The BJP has won the trust of many. The Congress always talks about the poor during elections, but it has been in power so long, how come the condition of the poor has not changed?' he asked.
"This country is not poor. A rich country has been made poor for political motives."
At a mega-Congress conclave last week, former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar had mocked Mr Modi's prime ministerial ambitions and said a place would be identified for him to sell tea. The Congress had disowned the comment, which was criticised by many, including UPA allies like Omar Abdullah.
Mr Modi today said he could see his dreams of a "Congress-free India" becoming a reality in the national election, due by May, which he described as "different" from all other polls.
This is part of a series of rallies that he is addressing in India's most politically vital state, where the party has just 10 of 80 Lok Sabha seats.