Khargone/Rewa (Madhya Pradesh): Raising the poll pitch, Sonia Gandhi on Friday attacked Narendra Modi and and his party for their 'greed for power' and 'day-dreaming' of winning elections, a day after the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate asked her to make way for Rahul Gandhi on health grounds.
Addressing election rallies in Khargone and Rewa, Gandhi also hit out at the Shivraj Singh Chauhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, alleging funds provided by the Centre for welfare schemes were 'looted' by the 'corrupt' establishment in the state.
Gandhi said BJP leaders were busy pulling each other down but they should realise that India is not just any other country which can fall prey to their "selfish" motives.
"BJP leaders are day-dreaming about power.... They are so engrossed in their greed for power that they are pulling each other down...
"...If they think they can win hearts of the people by using flowery language, they are mistaken. India is not just any other country," the Congress chief said during an election rally in Khargone, taking on the BJP and the state government.
The BJP, she said, has never understood the country's composite culture and the principles of brotherhood, compassion and sacrifice.
"They have never understood it nor will they ever understand. They turn a brother against a brother for their selfish ends. There is a need to be cautious about them," she said.
Gandhi's frontal attack on Modi came a day after he said in a rally at Chhattisgarh that since she is ill, she should let her son Rahul take over.
The remark drew sharp criticism from the Congress which sought an immediate apology from him.
Gandhi claimed at another rally in Rewa that benefits of Centre's schemes like National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and MNREGA were not visible in MP because the state machinery had not let the funds reach the common people.
"There are corruption charges against 13 MP ministers lodged with the Lokayukta. But has any investigation been initiated against them?" she asked.
Countering Modi's allegation that Centre makes false claims of sending huge funds to the states, Gandhi said the people of Madhya Pradesh should ask in "whose pockets these funds have gone".
She said that in the last few days there have been newsreports that in Madhya Pradesh, three directors of the National Rural Health Mission were raided by the Income Tax department and hundreds of crores were of rupees recovered from their homes.
"Did the Centre send this money so that it enters the lockers of corrupt system or was this money sent from the Centre so the common people of Madhya Pradesh get facilities"? she said.
Gandhi alleged that BJP only talks big about itself. "They keep blowing their own trumpet. But stomachs are not filled by promises alone."
Charging the BJP with misrule in Madhya Pradesh in the last ten years, she said it has lagged behind in education, health and employment opportunities and there was a need for change.
She alleged that the UPA government launched MNREGA but in Madhya Pradesh the jobs have gone to contractors instead of the common people. She said if voted to power, Congress will waive the debt of farmers and give ownership rights to those doing farming on lease on a land for more than three years.
Under the BJP rule, there has been rampant malnutrition which has claimed the lives of a large number of children and farmers are living in a very poor condition. Several farmers in the state have committed suicide, she said.
She said that a 'wave of change' was sweeping through Madhya Pradesh right now and expressed confidence that the Congress will win the November 25 state assembly elections.
Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni accompanied Gandhi. Others who addressed the rally included Congress General Secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Mohan Prakash, State Congress President Kantilal Bhuria and party MP Arun Yadav.
