'Acche din' for Modi, not for people: Rahul

Targetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said "acche din" have come for Modi and few businessmen close to him and not for people.

He also trained guns on Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, terming him a "mini Modi".

Addressing a public meeting at Wadial village near here, he came down heavily on both the leaders for neglecting farmers and for failing to deliver on their poll promises.

Gandhi said Modi has five to six businessmen friends and the entire country was being run for them.

"It is a government of selected people. It is a government of suit-boot and selected industrialists," he said after winding up 15-km long padyatra in Adilabad district to console families of farmers who committed suicide due to financial distress.

On his first visit to Telangana after formation of a separate state, Gandhi covered five villages under his padyatra, which drew good response and boosted the morale of the opposition party.

He consoled five families and gave them Rs.2 lakh each.

"Acche din" have not come for people but for Modi, who is visiting different countries, he quipped.

In another dig at Modi, he asked the crowd: "Is there anybody among you who wears a Rs.10 lakh suit."

"Modiji wears it," he added.

"One year has passed. Did anybody among you get a job which Modiji at centre and mini-Modi in Telangana had promised," he asked.

The Congress vice chief claimed that wherever goes, people tell him that they committed a mistake by voting for the National Democratic Alliance.

He said both the NDA and the Telanagana Rashtra Samithi had promised that they will change India and Telangana respectively but forgot farmers who can bring the real change.

Hitting out at the NDA government for proposed amendment to land acquisition law, the Congress leader said the government want to snatch the lands of farmers and give them to few industrialists who are close to Modi.

"They want to snatch your land because land is gold. The price of land in coming years will increase manifold and this will benefit you and your children," he told farmers.

Gandhi, however, clarified that his Congress party is not against development. "Industries should come. There should be partnership between industries, farmers and labourers. We are against crony capitalism. Crony capitalism means give everything to two to three industrialists," he told farmers.

Hitting back at NDA and TRS for criticising him for meeting families of farmers who committed suicide, he said if Modi and Chandrasekhar Rao had visited them, there was no need for him to do so.

Gandhi claimed that the Congress, while in power, always came to the rescue of farmers in times of natural calamities or to solve other problems.

He recalled that the UPA government waived Rs.70,000 crore of farm loans, and also provided Rs.8 lakh crore bank loans to farmers in 10 years, thus increasing the agriculture credit by 700 percent.

Congress' state unit president Uttam Kumar Reddy said 700 farmers committed suicide in the state during 11 months.

Earlier, walking briskly, Gandhi completed his 'padyatra' in four hours in the backward district, about 200 km from Hyderabad.

Despite being slightly indisposed, he completed his walkathon 'Kisan Sandesh Yatra', which was attended by hundreds of party workers from across the state.

The young leader launched the walkathon in the morning from Koratikal village, about four km from here.

Clad in a white kurta-pyjama, he walked with party leaders, including Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh and top functionaries of the party's Telangana unit.

He met five families including a family of a person who returned from Gulf after being cheated by a travel agent.

At Koratikal, he visited the house of Velma Rajeshwar, a farmer who committed suicide on May 2 following huge crop loss. He also met the wife and children of the farmer and consoled them.

In Laxmanchanda village, he met families of two farmers who committed suicide.

He also visited the house of Bandla Linganna and consoled his widow and children. Sitting on the floor with the family members of the farmer, he enquired about their problems.

Gandhi, who arrived here on Thursday night after landing at Nanded in neighbouring Maharashtra, visited three other villages and interacted with the farmers.

The Congress vice president, who undertook similar yatras in Punjab and Maharashtra earlier, left for Nanded by road after addressing public meeting.

Gandhi's visit boosted the morale of party workers. There was discernible enthusiasm as party workers turned up in large numbers for the padyatra.

Holding party flags and raising slogans, party activists accompanied him. The Special Protection Group (SPG) and police personnel had a tough time in controlling the crowd as the Congress leader freely mingled with the people and shook hands with them. - IANS