Patna:
A crowd in the West Champaran district of Bihar applauded and shouted today as Rahul Gandhi of Congress with a smile deflected a taunt directed at him by a group from the audience. “Woh bol raha hai pakora tal (he’s saying go fry pakoras (vegetable fritters), “shouted a man from the crowd when Rahul Gandhi came out to campaign on the day of the first round of assembly elections that started with 71 seats.
Undeterred, Rahul Gandhi smiled. “Did you fry pakoras? When you come, you should offer Nitish-ji and Modi-ji some,” he said to cheers and applause. The man who interrupted Mr. Gandhi was also heard laughing.
Over the past few days, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had lost his temper on several occasions. Last week when someone raised the slogans “Lalu Yadav zindabad (long live Lalu Yaav)” at their rally, they yelled at the man and asked him to “stop this nonsense.”
“Raise your hands, whoever is speaking anap-shanaap (nonsense),” the Chief Minister had demanded. He was somewhat appeased when, after a brief silence, someone yelled “chara chor (forage thief),” a reference to Lalu Yadav, who has been jailed for massive corruption related to livestock fodder.
Before being interrupted, Rahul Gandhi was targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of lying.
“Now the prime minister no longer says in his speeches that he will employ two million young people,” he said. “He knows he was lying and the people know it too. I guarantee that if the prime minister comes here and says he will give 2 million jobs, the crowd will drive him away,” he said.
In a sarcastic vein, he also admitted a “flaw.” “Congress knows how to run a country, how to support farmers and provide jobs, but” we don’t know how to lie, “he said.” We don’t know how to lie. “We cannot compete with him in telling lies. I admit that this is a serious deficiency,” he said.
Both Prime Minister Modi and Mr Gandhi traversed the state today while the first phase of the elections was underway. While Prime Minister Modi addressed three demonstrations, ending with one in the state capital, Patna, Rahul Gandhi spoke in the West Champaran district.
Congress, which is partnering with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Lalu Yadav rte Left parties for these elections, backs Tejashwi Yadav as its top ministerial candidate. The party is contesting 20 seats in this phase of the elections.
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