At Uttar Pradesh roadshow, Rahul Gandhi taunts Narendra Modi's '56-inch chest', says hollowness of PM's claims are now clear

Lucknow: Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday said he used to boast about his “56-inch chest”, but the “hollowness” of his claims is now coming out in the open. Addressing Congress workers after a roadshow in Lucknow, where he was accompanied by his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in her first public event after entering active politics, Rahul claimed that Modi’s body language has also changed now and the entire country has got to know about his “hollowness”. [caption id=“attachment_5187261” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Twitter@INCIndia[/caption] “When Narendra Modiji came, he had said he has a 56-inch chest, he wants to be a chowkidar (watchman) and he wants to be prime minister of the country. But now, one after another, the truth is coming out,” Rahul said, citing recent media reports on the alleged “parallel negotiations” carried out by the Prime Minister’s Office in the Rafale deal and the alleged dilution of the anti-corruption clause in the jet purchase agreement. “The hollowness that was inside him has now come out before the entire nation. The entire nation and its youth and farmers now know that ‘chowkidar chor hai’…” Rahul said, while repeating his allegations about corruption and crony capitalism in the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal. The government and the BJP have repeated rejected these allegations. Speaking at Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, senior BJP leader and Home Minister Rajnath Singh said. “Chowkidar chor nahi, chowkidar pure hai. Next PM sure hain, problem ke liye cure hai (“The watchman is not a thief, he is a pure man. He is sure to be the next PM and is a cure for problems.” Speaking in Parliament in the national capital, another Congress leader Veerappa Moily also referred to Modi’s famous comments about his his “56-inch chest” to attack the government. “When bullet of corruption is hit, his broad shoulders cannot bear it,” Moily said. In the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it was in Uttar Pradesh that Modi, as a three-term Gujarat chief minister at that time, had famously said that it take a “56-inch chest” to convert Uttar Pradesh into Gujarat in terms of development.