Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday sought to put Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the same bracket, accusing both of helping the rich instead of the poor, while hankering for power.
Addressing an election rally at Serampore in Hooghly district, Gandhi said that Modi "claims to be a 'deshbhakt' (patriot), but is selling off the country".
"While CM Mamata Banerjee is helping the rich, and not the poor in West Bengal, Modi is doing the same across the country... Both have nothing to do with creating job opportunities. They want power but don't work for people," he said.
"Wherever the PM goes, he spreads hatred and fear among people," the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha alleged.
He claimed that the country is witnessing a fight between two ideologies.
"It is the Congress' unity and brotherhood against the BJP and RSS' hatred and violence," he added.
He accused the PM of harming small industries in the country through demonetisation and implementing GST in a "wrongful manner".
"West Bengal used to be the centre of industry in the country, but first the Left Front and then the TMC destroyed everything," he claimed.
Stating that only the Congress can fight the BJP on the basis of ideology, Gandhi, at another public meeting in Kolkata, said, "We cannot compromise with them."
Gandhi said he undertook the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in 2022 to promote brotherhood and love, claiming that "BJP spreads violence across the country and the TMC does the same in West Bengal".
The Congress leader accused the Narendra Modi government of compromising the country's interests in the India-US trade deal and "selling out the country's agriculture sector, small and medium industries, energy security and also handing over India's data to the US".
Alleging that Modi has done nothing for the welfare of the poorer sections of the society, Gandhi said, "Whatever he does is in the interest of the super-rich."
Accusing the BJP of "specialising in stealing votes and destroying democracy", Gandhi alleged that the saffron party indulged in such activities in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and brought down the Congress government in Karnataka by using illegal means.
Training his guns on the Mamata Banerjee dispensation, Gandhi accused it of destroying an industry-rich West Bengal and driving entrepreneurs away from the state.
Accusing the Narendra Modi government of harming the interests of India's farmers in the US-India trade deal, he said that the Centre has vowed to buy Rs 9.5 lakh crore worth of goods from the US.
"If India buys Rs 9.5 lakh crore worth goods from America, then our country's small and medium industries will close down," the Congress leader said.
He also accused the Modi government of undertaking to buy oil from the countries which the US would permit.
Taking to social media platform 'X', Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shared a video of the RSS leader where Madhav said that India agreed to stop buying oil from Iran and Russia and also agreed to higher tariffs imposed by the US.
He claimed that Madhav's remarks in the USA have "exposed the Modi government's dangerous priorities".
Siddaramaiah alleged that these are not diplomatic decisions - they are "brazen acts of self-surrender".
"As @RahulGandhi rightly said, this is the model of 'Rashtriya Surrender Sangh', where nationalism is a façade and servility is the reality," he claimed.
According to him, PM Modi's silence in the face of Donald Trump's mockery proved he was nothing more than Trump's "puppet".
"Unfortunately, the nation is paying the price for this compromised leadership," he added.
Madhav, however, later apologised saying what he said was "wrong as India did not agree to stop import of oil from Russia.
Gandhi said that while Mamata Banerjee had, before the 2021 assembly elections, promised five lakh jobs in the state, Narendra Modi had assured people of providing two crore jobs in the country.
"Mamata Banerjee is doing in West Bengal what Narendra Modi is doing across India," he said, claiming that the youths have not got employment opportunities as promised by them.