New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi today kept up his attack on the "Mein Bhi Chowkidar" campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which gained huge traction on Twitter last night. Most BJP leaders, ministers and supporters had prefixed chowkidar to their twitter titles to show support minutes after the Prime Minister took the lead.
Mr Gandhi today said Narendra Modi has turned the whole country into "chowkidars" after getting caught, reported news agency Press Trust of India.
The Congress has accused the Prime Minister of corruption and crony capitalism in the deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets. Mr Gandhi has been repeatedly taking the "Chowkidar Chor Hai" (watchman is the thief) jibe at PM Modi.
Addressing a rally in Kalaburagi in north Karnataka, Mr Gandhi said PM Modi had asked the people to make him a "chowkidar" and not prime minister, but was now turning the whole country into "chowkidars."
"Whose chowkidari has he done?" the Congress president was quoting as saying by news agency Press Trust of India. The Prime Minister, he said, had only helped industrialists like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksey and Anil Ambani.
In Uttar Pradesh, Mr Gandhi's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also attacked PM Modi over the "Mein Bhi Chowkidar" campaign, saying only rich people have watchmen, not the farmers.
"Yesterday I met with a group of farmers... The potato farmers of western UP. One of the farmers told me, chowkidars are for the rich. We farmers are our own chowkidars," Priyanka Gandhi remarked.
Last evening, the opposition had launched a concerted attack on the Prime Minister after he tweeted that he was "Standing firm & serving the nation" and altered his twitter title.
"You can keep trying Mr Modi, but the truth cannot be extinguished. Every Indian is saying it. #ChowkidarChorHai P.S: Do force Sushma ji to add "Chowkidar" to her handle. It's looking very bad," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram joked that he has also been forced to join the BJP bandwagon. "Main bhi chowkidhar because the chowkidhar I had appointed is missing. I am told he has gone looking for achhe din," he tweeted.