Salman Nizami Questioned My Parentage, Says PM Modi; Not Our Man, Replies Congress

Gandhinagar: With voting underway for Phase 1 of Gujarat Assembly elections, on-ground action shifted to round 2, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi keeping up the poll tempo in respective rallies.

Addressing a rally in north Gujarat’s Lunawada, Modi raked up a tweet by one Salman Nizami, who he claimed was a Congress worker and close to Rahul Gandhi.

"Congress is asking who are my father and mother. I ask you brothers and sisters, do we talk in such language with even an enemy? A responsible Congress leader (a reference to Nizami’s tweet) asked me that," Modi said.

"Rahul Gandhi's party is asking me who are my parents. The people of my country are my parents. I am the son of this soil, this Lunawada."

"Congress has abandoned all shame in using words, their language, in action. The Congress is on the verge of defeat in elections. The Congress is spreading so many lies. They also spread lies that your hard earned money in the banks will be seized by bankrupt banks. It is a crime to spread such lies. The reality is that banks in the country landed in trouble because of the sins of Congress. Our government is the government to care for the common people."

The Congress, meanwhile, denied knowing Nizami. “Nizami who? Is he your (Modi’s) man? We don’t know who this Nizami is. He does not hold any position in the party. We can also say that there is some random person Ram Lal in the BJP who said something,” Congress leader Rajiv Shukla said.

Addressing a rally in Patan’s Harij, Rahul Gandhi launched yet another scathing attack on the PM, questioning why he had left out corruption issue from his speeches. “Modiji is only talking about people criticizing him. When he realized all this will not work, he started talking about Mani Shankar Aiyar. Why doesn’t he talk about corruption?”

The soon-to-be Congress chief also accused the PM of “gifting” land to industrialists.