Raj Thackeray lashes out at Modi, backs Rahul

Describing prime minister Narendra Modi's tenure as "disastrous", MNS chief Raj Thackeray said Congress president Rahul Gandhi deserves a chance.

"We tried Modi, but he was disastrous... let Rahul become the prime minister and let us see... if the country is fortunate enough, he would do some good thing," Raj said addressing a rally at Shivaji Park on Saturday on the auspicious occasion of Gudi Padwa.

Even as Raj said that he wants a "Modi-mukt Bharat", the crowd raised slogans like 'chowkidar chor hai'.

Once an admirer of Modi who used to appreciate his Gujarat model of development, Raj said that he would address 10 meetings to remind people what Modi promised and what he did while he was prime minister.

Raj, the nephew of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, said that that the "acche din" promise was like slogans given by American president Franklin Roosevelt and German dictator Adolf Hitler.

He accused Modi of being a "feku" (resorting to lies) whether it is Rs 15 lakhs in every account, vikas (development), demonetisation, Make in India or IAF strikes.

"Over 100 people died in queues during demonetisation and 4.50 crore people lost their jobs since then... industrial losses were huge," he said, adding that the prime minister had not addressed a single press conference as he was scared of "uncomfortable questions" from media.

In his election rallies, Modi is not saying a single word on demonetisation and GST, he said..

"The PM never discusses the real problems..... the BJP kept on changing political cards... Hindu and Hindutva, Ram mandir, gau raksha, Pulwama attacks, IAF strikes...," Raj said, targetting Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

He charged Modi of changing the names of schemes and policies of the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government. "It is only when Congress is defeated and is out of power... we realise its value... we are witnessing the same situation now, " he said adding, that people who built BJP like LK Advani has been sidelined.

Making a video presentation, he said that Harisal in Amravati was the first digital village of the country. "I sent (senior MNS leader) Sandeep Deshpande there...there is no Internet, no ATMs, no swipe machines...nothing has changed there," he said.

Raj requested people not to get scared of "there is no alternative" theory.