A day before Sonia rally,Narendra Modi taunts her on foreign trips

Modi’s allegation comes a day before the Congress president is to address farmers at Rajkot on Tuesday in her first public rally as part of poll campaign in Gujarat.

“In the last three years,the government has spent Rs 1,880 crore on Sonia Gandhi’s foreign trips. Huge expenditure was made for her hotel bookings,” Modi said during his Swami Vivekanand Yuva Vikas Yatra rallies in Bhavnagar and Amreli districts. “I want to ask PM if this is simplicity and austerity,” Modi said,adding the amount was nearly equivalent to the budget of four major cities of Saurashtra — Rajkot,Bhavnagar,Junagadh and Jamnagar.

The CM himself had come under fire from the state Congress for allegedly wasting public money in functions and programmes.

Speaking at Visavadar in Junagadh district,Modi said his information on Gandhi’s foreign trips were based on RTI replies sought by an activist,which was later published in a newspaper.

No word on Keshubhai

Modi refrained from attacking his predecessor and now his bete noire,GPP president Keshubhai Patel,who is seeking election from Visavadar.

Instead,the CM announced the merger of Viasavadar taluka’s three villages of Sapar,Sudavad and Luniya with Bagasara taluka in Amreli district.

The turnout at Modi’s Visavadar meet was much bigger than at Patel’s rally here on Friday. Patel had contested his last two Assembly elections,in 1995 and 1998,from Visavadar and won with huge margins before going on to become the CM. He had to step down in 2001 to pave way for Modi.

Later,addressing a meet in Junagadh city on Monday night,Modi seemed to be softening his stand against Gandhi after a day of aggressive attacks. He said his allegations against the Congress chief over her expensive foreign trips were not personal but related to public life. He said he had to raise the issue as public coffers had been emptied.

Modi said he would apologise if his claims were proved to be wrong.