Breaking an unwritten code, Narendra Modi today held a rally here in the Gandhi family pocketborough, attacking "family" politics and said he has not come for "revenge" but for "change" in this backward region.
Campaigning for actress-turned-politician and BJP candidate Smriti Irani contesting against Rahul Gandhi, he rejected the Congress Vice President's charge that he practises "politics of anger".
"I have not come here for revenge. I have come here for bringing about a change in this constituency which has been neglected by the Gandhi family despite representing it for 40 years. You just invoke family relations with the people here but do nothing for its development," the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate said.
Concluding his speech minutes before the campaign ended in the constituency which will witness polling on May 7, he said he has not come here to "trouble Rahul Gandhi. He is already a troubled soul."
Describing Smriti as his "younger sister" and his "representative", he said, "time has come to snap the relationship between the family and the constituency. People here have been cheated."
Attacking Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, he said, "you have committed sins. For 40 years, you have cheated three generations whose lives have been destroyed and their dreams shattered...I have come here to turn your dreams as mine, to convert your pain into mine."
The campaigning by Modi in Rahul's constituency was significant as no top leader usually undertakes electioneering in the constituency of top rivals.
