Rahul takes jibe at PM over Mann ki Baat, accuses BJP of tutoring woman to cite higher income

Rahul Gandhi said that PM Narendra Modi not only tells people his Mann ki Baat but even wants to hear his Mann ki Baat from them.

New Delhi, July 10: The regular attacks and counter-attacks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi are unlikely to end before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

After PM Modi called the Congress "Bail-Gaadi" at an event in Jaipur, Rajasthan last week, now his bête noire Rahul on Monday took a swipe at PM Modi. The Congress chief said that the PM not only tells people his Mann ki Baat but even wants to hear his Mann ki Baat from them.

The 48-year-old scion of Gandhi family cited a news report that a woman from Chhattisgarh was tutored to tell the PM during an interaction that her income had doubled after she shifted from paddy cultivation to sitafal (sugar apple) farming, and targeted Modi.

"Everyone knows that the PM tells his Mann ki Baat. But today, it was known that he wants to hear only his own Mann ki Baat," Rahul tweeted in Hindi, referring to Modi's Mann ki Baat radio address.

A news channel reported that the woman from Kanker district in Chhattisgarh had been tutored by officials to claim doubling of her income during the interaction with the PM on June 20 through the NaMo App.

On Monday, the woman, however, denied that she had been tutored by officials for the interaction. Her clarification prompted ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to ridicule a section of the media, saying there was "an agenda of deriding" the PM.

While the scourge of "fake news" has become rampant in the last few years, it is also true that often poor, illiterate people are coerced by authorities to paint a rosy picture about their life when they meet VIPs.