Advani out, Adani in: says Rahul

Raising the pitch against Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi today attacked him over his alleged links with the Adani group, saying the Gujarat businessman was given "everything" while senior BJP leaders like L K Advani and Jaswant Singh were "thrown out".

"Advani was thrown out-- Jaswant Singh was thrown out (from the party) and Adani was taken in", he said addressing a rally here in support of party candidate and Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Rahul also raked up the issue of Modi's marriage to hit out at BJP, saying while the party made claims of ensuring safety of women, it took several elections for its Prime Ministerial candidate to mention the name of his wife in the poll affidavit.

"Don't know how many elections he has contested till now, but he has revealed for the first time that he is married. In Delhi, he talks about honour of women, but his own wife's name doesn't reach the affidavit," he said.

Modi has for the first time declared himself as a married man by revealing his wife's name as Jashodaben in an affidavit filed before the Election Commission along with his nomination papers for Vadodara Lok Sabha seat.

Taking a dig at Modi's claim of governance, Gandhi said it was "Adani government" being run there. "He is Gujarat's big businessman. How was he given everything. They (Modi Government) work like this," Rahul said.

"They talk of development...will undertake development... In Gujarat, one person was given hundreds of acres of land free and asked to do whatever he wants to do with it, but at the same time, workers and farmers were weeping," he said, without naming the person who was granted huge chunk of land.

This is the second time in as many days that Rahul has attacked Modi on his alleged links with the Adani group.

Addressing a meeting in Udaipur yesterday, Rahul had said, "BJP has chucked out Advani and brought in Adani in its race to make one person the Prime Minister of India".