Start working before people throw you out: Rahul to Modi

Buoyed by the election results in Bihar, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop campaigning and start working or be ready to be voted out.

“One year has gone by, India has been waiting (for you to work) but your car has not yet started. Please start it and step on the accelerator because if you won’t do it, people of the country will open the door and throw you out,” Rahul told reporters ribbing the PM amid celebrations at the party headquarters here.

He also said the Bihar results were a victory over the divisive agenda of the RSS, BJP and Narendra Modi.

The Congress emerged victorious in 27 of the 41 seats it had contested in the 243-member Assembly – a significant increase from four seats it had in the outgoing House.

On joining Nitish govt
A visibly relieved Rahul deftly parried questions on whether the Congress would join the Nitish Kumar-led government. “These are internal matters of the Grand Alliance and cannot be divulged at a press conference,” he said.

The Bihar poll results have come as a shot in the arm for Rahul who is seen as the future leader of the Congress which had received a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections besides many other state polls.

Rahul also sidestepped questions on return of coalition politics even as party leaders hailed him as the architect of the Grand Alliance.

“Rahul Gandhi has played a very important role in forming this Grand Alliance,” AICC General Secretary Shakeel Ahmad told Deccan Herald. Congress leaders pointed out that when RJD chief Lalu Prasad was having reservations about the coalition, it was Rahul’s 40-minute meeting with Nitish Kumar that clinched the Grand Alliance.  The Congress leader also asked Modi to shed his arrogance and listen to the voice of the people who were yearning for an environment of peace and harmony.

“The message from Bihar is echoing all over, which is that the prime minister should listen and try to understand... The RSS, BJP and Modi cannot divide this country. They cannot win elections by pitting Hindus against Muslims. The nation belongs to all,” Rahul asserted.