PATNA: Missing in action for weeks, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi opened his campaign for INDIA bloc in Bihar Wednesday with a barrage of personal attacks targeting PM Narendra Modi, saying the latter would “happily dance for votes” if he needed to.”Modi ji just wants your votes… He can perform Bharatanatyam,” the Rae Bareli MP said at a rally in Muzaffarpur, INDIA bloc’s CM face Tejashwi Yadav by his side. The vitriol continued to flow in Darbhanga, where he told the crowd that BJP was out to “steal your votes like they did in Maharashtra & Haryana”.Asking people to be extra careful this poll season to prevent “vote theft”, Rahul said, “Catch BJP people if they try to steal your votes at polling booths…” Rahul, whose absence from opposition’s campaign was as much a talking point as his prolonged reluctance to acknowledge RJD scion Tejashwi as the chief ministerial candidate, alleged that Nitish Kumar was CM only in name. “Nitish is not running the govt. It is Modi and (Amit) Shah who are running it through remote control.”He also accused PM Modi of failing to counter US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that his intervention halted Operation Sindoor against Pakistan. “Trump has said it 50 times…He is constantly insulting PM Modi, but the latter is silent. Not once has he said Trump is lying as he is scared of the US President. Indira Gandhi stuck to her stand on Bangladesh during 1971 India-Pakistan war despite international pressure… That is what a PM means,” he said, suggesting that was why PM Modi “can’t develop Bihar”.Rahul asked voters to distinguish between people prone to making false promises and those working with good intentions. Tejashwi appealed to voters to give him one chance. “I haven’t done anybody harm. If I get a chance to govern, you will get govt jobs,” he said.
