Tamil Nadu model is better than Modi’s Gujarat model, Rahul Gandhi says

RAMANATHAPURAM: Lauding the Tamil Nadu model as better than the Gujarat model, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said he was happy that Congress was fighting the elections alone in Tamil Nadu and hoped the party would capture power in the state in 2016.

Addressing a public meeting to seek votes for the party candidate S Thirunavukkarasar at coastal Ramanathapuram district a day before election campaigning comes to an end in the state, Rahul hit out at BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for projecting Gujarat as an ideal state.

Rahul heaped praises on Tamil Nadu's development. "Tamil Nadu has shown what Tamil people are capable of. Modi talks about Gujarat model. Maybe, he should come here and take a look at TN model" Rahul said.

Rahul said that the country "does not need a government that makes Hindus fight Muslims." "You must ensure that a secular government comes to power at the Centre," he said.

"We don't need a government that spreads hatred among people, a government that makes Hindus fight Muslims. We don't need a government that imposes ideas from one state to another," he said.

Rahul, who generously invoked the name of Congress stalwart K Kamaraj throughout his speech, called upon the people to vote for the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections as Tamil parties are not going to form government at the Centre.

"We are going to give the people of Tamil Nadu the type of government they deserve," Rahul said to a huge applause from the cadres.

"I am proud to see party workers charged up and ready to fight the elections under Congress banner. Now we will not have to compromise," he said in an apparent reference to coalition compulsions the party faced in the past.

With almost all Congress heavyweights, including Union finance minister P Chidambaram and G K Vasan seated on the dais, Rahul declared that the party would fight not just the parliamentary elections alone but all future elections and capture power on its own in Tamil Nadu.