Akhilesh Yadav 'fatafat' counter to PM Modi 'khatakhat' jibe

Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "khatakhat" jibe at the SP and the Congress, and said the public is now going to remove him from the top post "fatafat, fatafat, fatafat (quickly)".

Yadav targeted the prime minister while addressing an INDIA bloc rally in Raebareli, UP, in the presence of Congress candidate Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi also joined the public meeting later.

Yadav said, "They (BJP and PM Modi) are saying we will go abroad, but the people of our country are aware, they know that he (Modi) has sent his important people and friends abroad one after the other. His friends, one after the other, fled abroad khatakhat khatakhat (swiftly)."

Accusing the Modi government of drowning the country in debt, Yadav said, "Now, the public is telling you that they will remove you fatafat, fatafat, fatafat (quickly)."

He also said those who asserted that they would not indulge in corruption themselves nor allow others to do so (na khaunga, na khane dunga), have swallowed everything. "Sab dakar gaye aur keh rahen hain gatagat gatagat (they swallowed everything and are not even burping). They have not even burped after devouring electoral bonds," he said.

Addressing a public meeting on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the INDIA bloc would disintegrate post-elections, and Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav would go abroad on a summer vacation 'khatakhat, khatakhat'.

He also used the 'khatakhat, khatakhat' phrase at a rally in Fatehpur on Friday to attack the two parties. "The dreams of panja (Congress' poll symbol of the open palm) and 'cycle' (SP's poll symbol) have shattered khatakhat, khatakhat. Now they are planning for post-4 June as to who should be blamed for the defeat khatakhat, khatakhat. And, someone was telling me that tickets for foreign trips have also been booked khatakhat, khatakhat."

Modi's jibe came in response to Rahul Gandhi's frequent use of the phrase khatakhat, khatakhat to claim that a fixed stipend would flow into the accounts of lower-income women if the alliance came to power.

Hitting out at Modi without naming him, Yadav said at the rally on Friday, "There is a very big leader of the country who feigns a relationship (jhootha rishta) with every place he goes to."

Pointing at the crowd, Yadav said, "Let them also see and hear that Rahul Gandhiji's true relationship is with Raebareli. If 'Ra' is for Raebareli then 'Ra' is also for Rahul. Those who do not understand counting should also understand that one plus one has become 11 and the BJP has become nau do gyaraha (fled). Those who have seen the four phases of the elections know that the BJP is defeated," Yadav said.

Taking aim at MLA Manoj Pandey, who left the SP and joined the BJP, Yadav said, "I heard that our second traitor has also gone there (to BJP). One specialty of the fraudster who has just gone there is that wherever he goes, he digs a hole."

Pandey, who came out in support of the BJP candidate during the Rajya Sabha elections earlier this year, joined the BJP in Raebareli on Friday and sat next to Union home minister Amit Shah on the stage. Recently Shah had also visited his residence.

Voting will be held in the fifth phase in Raebareli on 20 May, where BJP has fielded state government minister Dinesh Pratap Singh against Rahul Gandhi.