Amit Shah mimicked Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Karnataka's Bidar.
The election campaign in Karnataka on Monday got shriller, with BJP chief Amit Shah mimicking Congress president Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Bidar. Mr Shah and Mr Gandhi are both in the state, crisscrossing roughly across the same area to garner support.
The Congress is determined to hold on to Karnataka, one of the few states it currently rules. The BJP is making an all-out effort to wrest power in the only state in south India where it had formed government, showcasing the achievements of the Narendra Modi government on which Mr Gandhi has kept his guns trained.
On Monday, Amit Shah mocked Rahul Gandhi, questioning why he constantly keeps asking Prime Minister to account for his four years in power.
"Rahul
baba keeps asking loudly what has PM Modi done in the last four years.
'Modi ji bataao aapne chaar saal me kya kiya? (Modi-
ji, tell us that what have you done in four years)'," he said, mimicking Mr Gandhi to loud guffaws from the audience.
"But Rahul
baba, why are you shouting so much? Why do you ask what Modi-ji has done in four years? The people of this country want you to account for four generations (of Congress leadership)," the BJP chief said as the crowd cheered.
Mr Gandhi had accused PM Modi of keeping silent on the Rs 11,300 crore fraud at the Punjab National Bank fraud involving celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi and the Rafale deal.
"The country's
chowkidar comes to Karnataka and speaks about corruption with his chief minister (former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa) who had been to jail on one side and on the other side four ministers who also went to jail during the BJP rule," he said at a rally in Ramadurga.
He also accused the Prime Minister of favouring the "super rich" and asked why a Lok Pal, the country's top anti-corruption official, has not been appointed yet.
Over the last two days, Mr Shah has been constantly on the move, visiting temples, addressing rallies and holding party meetings. HIs visit comes on the heels of a visit by PM Modi in the state last week. While the two top leaders have been spear-heading the party's campaign, the state has also witnessed visits by the several senior cabinet ministers of PM Modi, including Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh and the BJP's star campaigner Yogi Adityanath.
The BJP has also pitched law and order as one of the key issues in the coming assembly elections, claiming over the last months, more than to dozen workers of the party and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have been murdered in the state.
It has been flagged repeatedly in election rallies by its star campaigners. Even PM Modi, at a rally in the state earlier this month, had spoken of the "ease of doing murder".