Gujarat polls: Narendra Modi slams Congress' EVM claims, says party 'making excuses' for losing first phase of polling

Ahead of the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Congress has “already lost in the first round” of polling and claimed that its leaders were using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) as an excuse. [caption id=“attachment_4253335” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi. AP[/caption] “Congress has lost in the first round and are not even thinking about the second round as they know people here will support BJP. They are now making excuses. They know that south Gujarat supports Modi, so their leaders and cheerleaders are blaming EVMs, including saying they are hacked using Bluetooth,” Modi said while addressing a public rally in Patan on Monday. Modi also told the gathering that BJP leaders were the ones who came to their rescue when their villages were submerged in the recent floods in Gujarat. “When this area was flooded, chief minister Vijay Rupani, former chief minister Anandiben Patel and other BJP ministers came and stood with the people. The prime minister reviewed the situation. Tell me where were the Congress workers at that time? The Congress MLAs were enjoying in resorts in Bengaluru,” he said, taking a jab at the Opposition party’s meeting in Bengaluru to evade “poaching attempts” ahead of the state elections. Modi also criticised soon-to-be Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s ‘potato to gold’ statement, saying he lacked basic knowledge of agriculture. “Our farmers work hard and grow potatoes. If at all Congress comes to power, there will be no need to do that because their leader says we will produce potatoes in factories. Congress’ basic knowledge about agriculture is so poor,” Modi said at the rally. The prime minister also reacted to Rahul’s claims that government policies were implemented only for serving the rich and that he only “worked for five industrialists,” saying he worked for the children of the poor. “During peak summer, I would go to the villages of Gujarat and ask parents to educate their children. Whose children were they? Were they Ambani’s children? No. They were children of the poor. We are working for poor,” Modi said, who also addressed rallies in Nadiad and Ahmedabad on Monday. Taking another swipe at the Congress, he added that the party leaders would never understand what poverty is. “When we went to the farmers, did Krishi Mahotsav, we did not go out helping the rich. We went among the poor. Sadly, Congress leaders born with golden spoons will never understand what poverty is!” Modi said in Patan. The voter turnout in the first phase for 89 seats on Saturday stood at 68 percent. The second, and final phase, for the remaining 93 seats will be held on 14 December, followed by counting, which will be held on 18 December. Watch the complete rally here:  With inputs from agencies Click here for detailed coverage of Gujarat Assembly Election 2017