JAUNPUR: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at the Samajwadi Party (SP), saying “the cycle (SP’s poll symbol), voted to power by the people (in the last Uttar Pradesh Assembly election), was not moving”.

“You removed the elephant (BSP’s poll symbol) and brought the cycle…but the cycle is stationary,” he told a gathering at Khetasaria here.

“Do not know if it (the cycle) has a puncture or is tied from behind or broken, but it is not moving,” he added. The Gandhi scion, who is on his ‘Deoria to Dilli yatra’ to connect with the masses in the run-up to the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, took a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “frequent” foreign visits. “Modiji apni duniya mein mast rehte hain…jaisa mainey kaha tha ‘janata trast, Modiji mast’ (Modiji is happy in his own world. As I had said earlier, the public is in trouble but Modiji is happy)…his attention is either in America or Japan. “He made tall promises that everyone will get Rs 15 lakh in their bank accounts, the youth will get employment and bullet trains will be run. When will they get Rs 15 lakh? When will the youth get employment and bullet trains? Even the regular train fares have been hiked,” he said. Rahul, who had lunch at the Guraini madarsa and took part in a road show, explained the motive behind his 2,500-km yatra to the people. “During the two years of the Modi government, Rs 1.10 lakh crore have been waived off. This was for the 15 richest people of the country whereas, during our tenure, we had waived off Rs 70,000 crore of farmers and the poor,” he alleged. As regards why the Centre had waived the loan of the rich, the Congress vice president alleged that their money was used on posters and television advertisements by the prime minister during poll campaigning. Comparing his party with the BJP, Rahul claimed that while the Congress was asking its leaders to tour the districts, Modi was encouraging his ministers to tour “at least two countries” each.—PTI