DHAKA: At a rally in Kishanganj in Bihar, Rahul Gandhi made a rare direct reference to his political opponent, Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat who is running for Prime Minister post of India.

‘Modi-ji, don’t try to fool India,’ the young Congress vice-president said, alleging that the Gujarat model of development, offered  as Modi’s top qualification for Prime Minister, is exaggerated and misleading.

‘For every Nano car that is built in Gujarat, the government there spends Rs. 40,000 to Tatas (the makers).  This is the money of the people of Gujarat,’ Gandhi alleged, repeating earlier claims that Modi sacrifices the interest of the common man for big business in his home state.

Modi had also provided Rs. 10,000 crore loan to Tata Motors for its Nano car project at 0.1 percent interest, while the common man gets loan from banks at 12 percent interest, claimed Gandhi.

‘The total budget of the Gujarat government on education, health and other welfare is less than Rs. 10,000 crore,’ he asserted.

With Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, the BJP is expected to win the most seats in the national election that ends on May 12.

Results will be counted on May 16.

Modi, 64, has been wooing voters by promising to get India out of its slowest economic growth in a decade and by pointing to his track record of cutting red tape and attracting investment in his four terms as chief minister of Gujarat.

Rahul is fronting the Congress campaign and is grappling with predictions of one of the party’s worst-ever performances, reports NDTV.

BDST: 1732 HRS, APR 16, 2014