In MP, Rahul Gandhi's '90 officers' jibe vs PM Modi's 'silver spoon' attack

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi campaigned in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on Thursday and launched scathing attacks at their respective rivals – Congress and BJP. While Gandhi accused Modi of running the country with just 90 bureaucrats, the Prime Minister alleged Congress leaders who were "born with silver spoons" indulged in what he called "poverty tourism".

Addressing a rally in Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi exhorted voters to deprive the Congress of power for at least 100 years. He also alleged that the party was expert in taking the country's progress in reverse gear.

"The way a vehicle takes us back in the reverse gear, Congress is also an expert of reverse gear and is an expert in converting good governance into a bad one," he said.

He said for the Congress, India starts and ends with Delhi. He said Congress leaders used to take their foreign friends to show "poverty in slum areas" and conduct "photo sessions".

"Earlier, these Congress leaders used to show India’s poverty to their foreign friends. For those Congress leaders who were born with a silver spoon, poverty was tourism,” he said.

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Rahul Gandhi attacks PM Modi

Congress stalwart Gandhi, addressing a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Ashoknagar, claimed 90 officials run the Indian government along with Modi.

"There's a misunderstanding that MP and MLAs run the government; I've seen the government from within. The Indian government is being run by 90 officials along with PM Narendra Modi. These 90 officials allocate the budget of India," he said.

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"PM Modi says that it's an OBC government and out of these 90 officials how many are OBCs?" he added.

He also referred to the PM's recent remarks saying there was only one caste in India -- the poor.

"PM Modi said a few days back in his speech that there's only one caste in India and that's 'poor'. On one side he says that his name is Narendra Modi and he's OBC and on the other side he says that there's only one caste that is 'poor'...I met lakhs of youth and when I asked them if they are unemployed what's their caste, they used to say that they are Dalit, OBC or Adivasi...If there are 50% OBC in the country then to run the government, their share in the government should be the same," he added.

The Congress has promised it will carry out a caste-based survey across the nation if it forms a government at the Centre. The BJP, whose government at the Centre has opposed such a move, claims the Congress wanted to divide the nation on caste lines.

With inputs from PTI, ANI