Rahul Gandhi takes dig at Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat', says 'we will listen'

Kick-starting the poll campaign in Valsad, Gujarat, Rahul said: "Our duty is to not talk about our 'Mann ki baat' but to listen to you."

Not allowing the Rafale issue to die down, the Congress chief peddled on The Hindu report to try to corner the Modi government.

Referring to The Hindu report, he said: "Defence Ministry officials clearly stated that Narendra Modi was conducting a parallel negotiation with Dassault. Govt documents have recorded that Mr. Modi stole Rs. 30,000 cr from Airforce and gave it to Anil Ambani."

Rahul also reiterated his slogan "chowkidar chor hai" in the native language as "chowkidar chor che".

One of the reports published by The Hindu stated the Rafale deal (buying of 36 fighters from France) signed by the Modi government was not on "better terms" than the previous UPA government.

Another report claimed the present government made some unprecedented concessions to France in the Rafale deal.

However, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Wednesday claimed the BJP government's deal was 2.86% cheaper than the one made by the previous government.

A day after the 16th Lok Sabha concluded, Rahul alleged that Modi's demonetisation benefited BJP national president Amit Shah.

"During demonetisation, Amit Shah converted his Rs. 700 cr black money into white through Cooperative Banks," he said.

Though his party missed the victory in the Gujarat assembly elections in 2017 by a small margin, the Congress managed to win three big states- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh- last year on one of the major issues, farm loan waiver.

Highlighting the newly-formed Congress government's waiver of farm loans in the three states, Rahul said: "I promised to waive off loans in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in 10 days of forming the govt. And I'm proud to say we did it in few hours of forming the govt."

Pinning hope on agriculture to win the 2019 General Elections, due to be held by May, the Congress supremo even promised to return lands to farmers if they are not used within five years.

"If the land is not put to use within 5 years of acquisition, then it should be given back. In Chhattisgarh, after forming the govt, we gave thousands of acres of land back to farmers and aadivasis. This is the law."

In the 2017 assembly elections, the Congress, which had won 80 seats, managed to restrict BJP to 99 though the saffron party had targeted 150 seats.

Image credit: Congress Twitter