COIMBATORE: Taking a break from his hectic campaigning in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi visited a sweet shop in Singanallur on Friday night.
Babu, the owner of the sweet shop, was taken by surprise at the sudden and unannounced visit of the Congress leader.
Shri @RahulGandhi gifts famous Mysore Pak to Shri @mkstalin.
Celebrating the loving relationship he shares with the people of Tamil Nadu. pic.twitter.com/Lw8vYrCC8L
— Congress (@INCIndia) April 12, 2024
“We were pleasantly surprised when Rahul Gandhi came by. He was probably visiting Coimbatore for a meeting. Since he likes (Gulab) Jamun, he bought 1 kg of the sweet. He sampled the other sweets on display as well. I was happy that he came by. Our staff, too, were happy to see him. He was here for 25-30 minutes. We had no clue he would stop by and were all taken by surprise. We asked him not to pay, but he insisted. He paid the whole amount,” the shop owner said.
Earlier, coming out all guns blazing at the BJP, Rahul labelled the Centre’s electoral bond scheme as the “single biggest act of corruption done by anybody in the world”.
Speaking at a public meeting in Coimbatore, Rahul Gandhi said, “Electoral bond is the biggest scam. The BJP is operating a washing machine. He (PM Modi) said he would cleanse our political system. He said he would bring a new scheme, an electoral bond scheme, as part of which whoever donates or makes monetary contributions to a party will remain anonymous. Regardless of how much money they contributed, nobody will know their names”.
He reminded that the Supreme Court called the scheme ‘illegal’ and sought the release of the names of the donors. “Then we started looking into names of donors and the dates of donation. That was where the genius of Mr Modi came into play”, Rahul said.
Rahul alleged that the companies facing an inquiry by the CBI, ED or the Income Tax Department, donated huge amounts to the BJP and cases against them were closed, adding that it was nothing but ‘extortion’. He further alleged that the BJP offered contracts to businessmen who donated to the party.
Polling for 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu is scheduled to be held in the 1st phase of the general elections on April 19. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.
In the 2019 general elections, the Congress-DMK-led alliance won 38 out of 39 seats in the state, while AIADMK could only win a lone seat. (ANI)