Won’t let land bill sail through: Rahul

Asserting that the Congress party won’t allow the government to take away even one inch of land belonging to farmers, the Congress leader attacked PM Modi saying “the 56-inch chest will become 5.6 inch in six months time”.

As the government gets ready to bring the much-disputed land acquisition bill in Parliament, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has rung the warning bells.

Reports said earlier in the day, Rahul undertook a padayatra to heighten his campaign on land bill among the people, especially farmers.

Addressing a meeting of 2000 Congress office-bearers and the elected representatives at a packed Birla auditorium, he said the physical age is not a criterion for party workers but what matters is their mental age.

Rahul also hit out at Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and said her government’s remote control was in London.

State Congress committee president Sachin Pilot, Leader of opposition in Rajasthan assembly Rameshwar Dudi and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot received Rahul Gandhi at the airport.

He said that as during the days of the British Raj, the remote control of the government here was in London. “He presses the button there and the reaction is seen here”, he added.

Rahul also accused the Prime Minister of making empty promises ahead of elections and now turning the other way by remaining silent on corruption.

Mr Gandhi also referred to the business links between the two and the invesment made by Mr Lalit Modi in a company owned by Ms Raje’s son and Lok Sabha member Dushyant Singh. Here it is not a Vasundhara government, but a Lalit Modi government.

“The son-in-law is not known for his father-in-law and the father-in-law is not known for his son-in-law”, he said.

It may be recalled that Raje was in the dock recently for helping Lalit Modi secure immigration papers in the United Kingdom, where he has been living since 2010 after been named in several corruption cases linked to the IPL. “We are not against industrialists or businessmen, what we want a balance act in all fields, and priority of government should be on both sides, common men and industrialists”, he said.