"Family is everything": Rajnath fires scathing barb at Congress in poll-bound MP

Claiming that the BJP's ideology of serving the nation stood in contrast with the Congress' dynastic politics, the Raksha Mantri said while the BJP believes that people are everything, for Congress, "family is everything".

Addressing a public rally in the Gwalior district of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Singh said, "Wherever the Congress is in power, be it in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka or Rajasthan, the government employees are not getting salaries. I can say with confidence that if there's one party in the country, which has shown itself to be skilled in the art of running a government, it is the BJP. The BJP believes that people are everything and for the Congress, family is everything. This is the biggest difference."

Meanwhile, BJP leader and Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday said he agreed with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's comments against the Congress party.

Chandrasekhar noted that Yadav's remarks were apt, claiming that the Congress has taken a U-turn after announcing an allowance for unemployed Karnataka youth in their poll manifesto.

Amid the ongoing rift within the INDIA alliance, Samajwadi Party (SP) Chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday hit out at the Congress, calling it a "Chalu" party. He added that the Congress had "betrayed" the alliance.

"...I usually do not agree with what Akhilesh Yadav but yesterday he made a very good and apt description of the Congress, calling them frauds. I want to place some facts about the frauds done by the Congress party before the people. There were elections recently in Karnataka for which the Congress made 5 promises," Chandrasekhar said at a press briefing.

"Congress promised to provide Rs 3,000 allowance for unemployed youth in the state but after the elections, they went back on their pledge saying they will provide it only to the youth who were unemployed in the previous year after graduating," Chandrasekhar claimed in his press briefing.

The Congress, which came back to power in Karnataka with a thumping majority, promised five "guarantees" in its manifesto. They promised 200 units of free power to all; Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family; 10 kg of rice free to all members of a BPL family; Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth; Rs 1,500 for diploma holders (age group of 18-25) for two years; and free travel in government buses for women.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, lashed out at the Congress at an election rally at the Jatara constituency in the Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, saying, "The Congress is a 'Chalu' party. Do not vote for them. If they can betray us, they could do the same to you. Beware of them."

The strained partners in the INDIA bloc have been at loggerheads following the breakdown in seat-sharing talks, with Akhilesh firing the "Chirkut" (small-timer) jibe at Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit chief Ajay Rai in October. (ANI)