Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Narendra Modi of hiding from the menace of corruption, arguing the Prime Minister had abandoned his pet electoral plank of 2014 because of his inability to act against his own people.

“One word is missing from the Prime Minister’s speeches: ‘corruption’. He used to lecture the nation on corruption in 2014. Now he can’t utter this word,” the Congress president told a rally in Chhattisgarh.

“Standing along with chief ministers like Raman Singh, during whose term thousands of crores were stolen, how can he talk of corruption?”

Rahul rubbed the message in: “Pakistan’s (former) Prime Minister (Nawaz Sharif) went to jail because his name had appeared in the Panama Papers. You know how things are in Pakistan, but even then the Prime Minister goes to jail.

“Here, the name of a chief minister’s son is mentioned in the Panama Papers but nothing happens. Thousands of crores were looted in the chit fund scam, PDS scam. A diary was seized in which the name of ‘CM madam’ occurred. Who is this ‘CM madam’? Who was referred to in the diary as ‘Doctor saheb’?”

Rahul questioned the Prime Minister’s silence on allegations of corruption in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, too, alleging that Modi’s inability to act against chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje was weighing on his mind.

He also referred to the Rafale deal, where he has accused Modi of personal involvement in corruption, as well as Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi --- businessmen accused in financial scams. He alleged the Prime Minister had allowed them to flee the country with the Indian people’s money.

Rahul threw Modi a dare on the demonetisation: “If he has the courage, let him tell the people that the note-bandi was a good move, it helped the poor. People will laugh at him.”

He added: “Everybody knows that all the thieves of India used the demonetisation to turn their black money into white with Modi’s help. That’s why Modi doesn’t talk of corruption now.”

Rahul is using the Assembly election campaigns in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to try and dent the Prime Minister’s image, alleging the Rafale aircraft deal was changed without following due process to help out Anil Ambani.

The Congress alleges that Modi had pressured the French to give the offset contract to Anil Ambani’s Reliance, bypassing the public-sector HAL, while keeping the defence and foreign ministries in the dark.

Feedback from the ground suggests that Rahul’s campaign on the Rafale deal has struck a chord with the people. Now the Congress president is expanding the narrative by targeting the Prime Minister’s “inaction” over the corruption scandals in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in an attempt to establish that his anti-corruption credentials are fake.

On Twitter, Rahul posted on Friday: “2014 – art of fraud 1: Make me Prime Minister, I shall provide 2 crore jobs. 2016 --- art of fraud 2: Support me on the demonetisation and I shall bring back black money. 2018 -- reality: Will fly suited, booted friends in Rafale and crush the dreams of the youth.”

Rahul, who is on a two-day visit to Chhattisgarh, said the money that should have gone into financing education, health care and jobs for the poor had gone into the pockets of 10 to 15 rich businessmen.

“The Prime Minister doesn’t explain about the promised 2 crore jobs, the Rs 15 lakh he pledged to deposit in every bank account or fair prices for the farmers. He has invented a new set of talking points, like cleaning India, to divert people’s attention from his failures.”