Rahul: “PM Modi’s anger is his problem; mine is how to help people”

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday derided Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal attacks on himself, his mother, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others, saying “It shows the quality of this man (Prime Minister Modi) And I'm happy to let him do so. If he enjoys himself, if he likes it, welcome. Have a nice day.”

Rahul was winding up an intense Karnataka state assembly election campaign at a press conference in Bengaluru. He said the BJP has restricted itself to only mounting personal attacks on him and his party leaders during its Karnataka campaign as they lacked seriousness about what they wished to deliver to the people in the state.

Commenting on scathing attacks at him and the “naamdaar” and “immature” taunts of PM Modi, the Congress President referenced to a story of Lord Buddha in which he told his disciple not to react angrily to the abuses. “He got me a gift of anger, I didn’t want, I didn’t take it. Mr Modi has anger inside him and he has got anger for everybody, not only for me. I am a lighting rod of that anger. I attract that anger, because he sees a threat from me. But his anger is his problem, it’s not my problem. My problem is, how to help the people of this country.”

Talking about PM’s digs at him for his “prime ministerial ambitions, Rahul said, “When the PM can’t respond, he distracts. He (PM Modi) knows that the Congress has been doing things differently.”

“PM Modi likes to distract people. He has nothing to say to the people of Karnataka on their future. So he just distracts them. All these comments are made to distract the country from the important issues. This election is not about Rahul Gandhi. It’s about the future of Karnataka,” the Congress President said.

"We put up a vision for the state while our opposition restricted itself to making personal attacks at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjun Kharge ji, and myself and others," Gandhi told the media here.

"They (BJP) have not really named what they want to do for Karnataka. What the Congress wants to do for the state is very very clear. We made certain commitments and we delivered on those commitments and now we have prepared a manifesto that is truly the voice of the people here," he added.

Gandhi said senior party leader Veerappa Moily had prepared the manifesto. He criss-crossed the state, held meetings with thousands of people before putting it all together. "We put forward the essence of what the people are looking for in the next five years," said Gandhi.

The 47-year-old Congress chief said: "In contrast, the BJP built its manifesto inside closed doors in three-four days. They copied from ours. So, there is a lack of seriousness among them about what they want to deliver... That I think is a huge difference."

"I am very confident that the Congress party is going to win the election," Gandhi added.

Gandhi, who finished his ninth leg of campaigning for the May 12 polls on Thursday, said: "I have now been travelling around Karnataka for a couple of months. It has been an honour... I have learned a tremendous amount from the people of the state, from their spirit, from their perspective."

"The Congress party has fought a very good campaign, we have all stood together, our party is completely united and we fought the campaign on fundamental issues," he added.

Karnataka votes on May 12; results will be declared on May 15.