Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat highlights: Congress VP calls GST 'Gabbar Singh Tax', says demonetisation 'senseless' decision

Watch: Rahul Gandhi mocks Narendra Modi on demonetisation, says move a senseless decision

#WATCH: Rahul Gandhi mocks PM on demonitisation announcement, says, 'PM said I don't like 500-1000 notes so I'm discontinuing them hahaha' pic.twitter.com/OYv4wparyO

— ANI (@ANI) October 23, 2017

BJP’s GST is Gabbar Singh Tax: Rahul Gandhi

Criticising the BJP over the implementation of Goods and Services Tax, Rahul Gandhi today gave a mock title to the new tax regime. “Ye jo inka GST hai ye aam aadmi pe bojh hai… ye GST nahi ye Gabbar Singh Tax hai,” Gandhi said.

Youth of Gujarat cannot find jobs in their own state: Rahul Gandhi

Highlighting the issue of joblessness in the state, Rahul Gandhi said, “When you click a selfie and click that button, every time a Chinese youth gets employment.” He said that the BJP is fond of jumlas and all its policies are nothing but empty words.

Pure desh ka budget laga do, puri duniya ka paisa laga do Gujarat ki awaaz ko dabaya nahi jaa sakta: Rahul Gandhi in Gandhinagar pic.twitter.com/PzYm9KnzVY

— ANI (@ANI) October 23, 2017

Loan waivers are for rich industrialists, not poor farmers: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP government alleging that the party was in cahoots with big industrialists. He said that while the party believes in ’negotiating’ with defaulters like Vijay Mallya, the BJP has no qualms about the struggle of poor farmers of Gujarat.

BJP sold the governance in Gujarat to 5-10 industrialists: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi came down heavily on the BJP government in state claiming that the BJP has put governnance in the hands of 5-10 industrialists. “Hardik (Patel), Jignesh (Mevani)have a voice in their heart…and that voice is inside all Gujaratis… This voice can neither be nor can it be bought,” Gandhi said.

‘Made in China is the truth of India’: Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Make in China’ jibe at Modi

Taking a jibe at Narendra Modi’s pet project, Make in India, Rahul Gandhi said that only BJP needs a reality check to find out that ‘Made in China’ is the reality. He said that the rest of the nation already knows that any claim stating otherwise are completely hollow, adding that 30 lakh youths were unemployed in Gujarat alone.

All sections of society agitating in Gujarat: Rahul Gandhi

“There is no section of society in Gujarat which is not agitating today, which isn’t a part of one movement or another,” Gandhi said. He also took a dig on the state government for failing to understand the needs of various social groups in the state.

Meanwhile… confusion prevails over Hardik Patel and Rahul Gandhi’s meeting

Amid conflicting media reports, confusion prevailed over whether or not Patidar leader Hardik Patel met Rahul Gandhi. Even as TV channel reports suggested that the two leaders held a closed door meeting at a hotel, sources close to Hardik told ANI that the Patidar leader did not meet Gandhi. The meeting, according to him will take place when Gandhi is in Gujarat for the third leg of his navsarjan yatra. 

Hardik Patel did not meet Rahul Gandhi today,will meet when he (Rahul Gandhi) visits from Nov 1-3 again:Dinesh Patel,Patidar leader #Gujarat

— ANI (@ANI) October 23, 2017

Nikhil Sawani meets Rahul Gandhi, says spoke to Congress v-p about justice for patidars

#WATCH: Rahul Gandhi & Patidar leader Nikhil Sawani leave hotel in Ahmedabad, Sawani says "spoke to him on justice to Patidars & agitation". pic.twitter.com/SPZifjxcEF

— ANI (@ANI) October 23, 2017

’Congress aave chhe, navsarjan laave chhe’: Alpesh Thakur

‘Congress government is coming this year and will bring a new era," Alpesh Thakur said at the Congress rally amid cheers. The massive turnout at the Congress rally, of late, has been a subject of much speculation. Whether or not the footfall transforms into votes for the Congress party in BJP bastion, remains to be seen.

‘With BJP money and power were both available, just didn’t have my people’s love’: Thakor on joining Congress

Alpesh Thakor, speaking at the Congress rally alongside Rahul Gandhi, said that this time around money power will not wiin Gujarat BJP. He urged people to vote for the poor people’s government, claiming that he left both post and power in BJP to do justice to his people.

Alpesh Thakor addresses the Navsarjan Rally, warns BJP against testing the youth’s patience

Two days after joining congress, Gujarat OBC leader Alpesh Thakor was seen at the Congress rally, flanking Rahul Gandhi. 

“It is time to throw out the BJP in Gujarat. Unemployment is a huge problem with lakhs of youngsters without jobs, more than 74,000 farmers are neck deep in debt, illicit liquor flows freely in the state despite prohibition and education and health sectors are in a total mess,” Thakor said.

Rahul’s rally sees huge turnout

નવસર્જન જનાદેશ મહાસંમેલન - ગાંધીનગર https://t.co/WK1xMHcFzp

— Gujarat Congress (@INCGujarat) October 23, 2017

Rahul has arrived at the venue for the rally

As speculation abounds over the Rahul-Hardik meeting, Rahul Gandhi has arrived at the rally venue.

Nikhil Savani speaks

Savani talked about the Rahul Gandhi-Hardik Patel meeting on CNN-News18. He said that the discussions focused on the Patidar agitation and getting justice for those aggrieved.

Hardik Patel meets Rahul Gandhi

Patel and Gandhi are in a meeting at a Gujarat hotel, reported Times Now. It started roughly around 2.10 pm and is still underway. There is little clarity on what is being discussed in the meeting.

NDTV had earlier reported that Patel had refused to meet Gandhi citing his busy schedule. However he had left the door open for a meeting at a later date.

OBC leader Alpesh Thakor accepts Congress ticket, likely to join party on 23 October

Aggressive young Gujarat OBC leader Alpesh Thakor on Saturday announced he was joining the Congress, as state party chief Bharatsinh Solanki urged firebrand Patidar spearhead Hardik Patel and Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani to also join the Congress.

Thakor, who has emerged as a strong OBC leader along with Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mewani during the last two years, announced his move in New Delhi after an evening meeting with Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi.

Thakor said he and his supporters would formally join the Opposition party at a massive rally in the state capital Gandhinagar on Monday. Rahul Gandhi would fly down especially for the rally.

With Assembly elections in Gujarat due later this year, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress are leaving no stone unturned to ensure they can emerge victorious.

This will be the first time elections are being held in Gujarat without Narendra Modi guiding the BJP ship, and a defeat for the saffron party will add credence to the theories doing the rounds that the state unit of the party is a sinking ship without the prime minister at the helm of affairs. Meanwhile, the Congress, which has suffered a series of electoral setbacks in recent months, is targetting Gujarat as the state which will revive its fortunes.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the offensive against the Opposition parties, especially Congress, and alleged that they were ‘anti-development’, Patidar leader Hardik Patel and his aides alleged corruption against the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In a tweet, Patel said that he is not the one asking questions from the BJP government in Gujarat, “BJP ke saamne main nahi, Gujarat ki 6 crore janata lad rahi hai. Vyapaari, kisaan, sabhi samuday, labourers BJP ki tanashahi se pareshaan hain (Not me, but the public of Gujarat will be fighting against BJP. Traders, farmers, all communities and labourers are tired of BJP’s dictatorial attitude.)”