Uddhav slams Rahul over 'garibi hatao' slogan, says only Gandhi family is free from poverty

Slamming Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his poll promises,Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday claimed only the Gandhi family's poverty had been eradicated since the slogan 'garibi hatao' was first coined. Addressing a poll rally here, Thackeray said the 'garibi hatao' (banish povery) slogan was coined by the Congress chief's grandmother (then Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi and thereafter, only the poverty of his family had been eradicated and not of people.

"You have fooled people once. Don't do it again.... Rahul Gandhi says Article 370 will not be touched...will you give the reigns of the nation to such people?" he asked.

Thackeray said the Congress chief called Veer Savarkar a "coward", adding that had former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru "endured" what Savarkar had to, he would have called Nehru "courageous". Slamming the NCP for criticising him for accompanying BJP chief Amit Shah at a gathering when the latter filed his nomination papers, Thackeray said it was the same party that had tried to sneak into the (BJP-led) government fearing the Sena's entry after 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The Sena chief further said late party patriarch Bal Thackeray made Congress nominee Milind Deora's father (Murli Deora) Mumbai mayor, otherwise people would not even have known the family. Deora is contesting from the Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat where he is pitted against Sena's sitting MP Arvind Sawant.

(With inputs from agencies.)