'Can't Become Nehru by Wearing Nehru Jackets': Cong Hits Out at PM Modi Over His Sartorial Choice

Ahmedabad: Hitting out at PM Narendra Modi over his choice of clothes, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said that one cannot become a leader like former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru just by wearing a "Nehru jacket" or donning designer jackets and kurtas like Rajiv Gandhi.

Addressing a rally at Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat on Saturday, Patel said, "You cannot become Jawaharlal Nehru just by wearing a Nehru jacket, neither can you become Indira Gandhi by going on foreign trips. You cannot become Rajiv Gandhi by donning designer jackets and kurtas. To be in the league of such leaders, you have to make sacrifices like them. Do you have

the courage to do that?"

He further said that the verdict in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh showed that people were disenchanted with the BJP. "When you came to power in 2014 by making false promises and spreading lies, you may not have thought that you will become unpopular within just four years. People are disenchanted with BJP now. That is why Congress won the assembly polls in three states," Patel said.

"When you came to power in 2014, you thought you will rule forever. That was your ego. You did not realise that if people can put you in power, they can also oust you," the leader said.

"Time has come for you (Modi) to vacate the throne in near future. If you do not step down, people will make you do so," the Congress veteran said.

To Modi's recent jibe that Kartarpur in Punjab went to Pakistan at the time of Independence because of "lack of vision" in Congress leaders, Patel asked if Modi was also blaming Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a Congress stalwart of that period.

"On one hand you are building Sardar Patel's statue and on the other you are insulting him," the Congress leader from Gujarat said. Modi and the BJP are trying to erase history and present a "distorted version" to claim that Congress leaders did nothing for the country, Patel alleged.

Modi failed to fulfil any of his pre-poll promises such as depositing Rs 15 lakh in everyone's bank account by bringing back black money, he said. "They claim they have done all those things which the Congress could not do in the last 70 years....Congress never looted the country in 60-70 years of its rule. But they (the BJP) looted the country through demonetisation during their four-year rule," he said.

(With inputs from PTI)