Addressing rallies at Samalakha, Ateli and Ballabgarh to campaign for the Congress candidates for the October 13 assembly poll, Rahul said the voters across the country had rejected those who talked for the welfare of only a selected few in the recent Lok Sabha elections and had embraced the Congress which stood for the ‘aam aadmi’, the common man.

“People had rejected the NDA which talked about ‘Shining India’ in 2004. People have again rejected their ideology in 2009 when they raised issues like terrorism and Pakistan”, he told the gatherings in almost similar speeches at the three places.

Reiterating his party’s commitment for the poor and the downtrodden, Rahul Gandhi ridiculed those who criticise him for visiting the houses of dalits, sharing their food and sleeping there.

“Why doesn’t the opposition talk about the poor, the farmers and the dalits. They talk only of Pakistan, terrorism and Jinnah,” Rahul said. He castigated his opponents for not visiting the homes of the poor and the dalits and argued that disconnect of opposition parties with the common man was the reason that they raise superfluous slogans borrowed from television while sitting in the comfort of their homes. He said the slogans raised by the Congress party emerged from the villages and the houses of the poor.

Rahul said the UPA government led by Prime Minister  Manmohan Singh was committed to work for the welfare of the poor, farmers, labourers and the dalits. Asking voters to vote for the continuation of Congress government in Haryana, Rahul said it would help them to reap the benefits of welfare policies pursued by the centre and the Hooda government in the state.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the party in-charge of Haryana affairs, Prithvi Raj Chavan were among those who accompanied Rahul and addressed the rallies.