Rahul vows to defeat Modi, form coalition at Centre

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said his party would form a coalition government in the Centre with Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and other allies by defeating Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2019 general elections.

"Just as we formed a coalition government with the JD-S in Karnataka in May 2018 and kept the BJP out of power, we will do the same in the Centre with it (JD-S) and other parties after defeating the NDA government," he said at a massive public meeting with the ruling coalition partner.

Polling across the southern state is in two phases on April 18 and April 23 for 28 parliamentary seats.

Accusing the BJP-led NDA government of doing nothing for farmers, poor, youth, women and others since coming to power in 2014, Gandhi said Modi also lied to the nation and its people, having promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh in each bank account from the black money stashed away in Switzerland, create 2 crore jobs and bring "achche din".

"Instead, he worked only for the rich and 15-20 crorepatis (billionaires). He became a 'chowkidar' for industrialists like Anil Ambani and Adani and fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi who fled the country," said Rahul in his 20-minute speech in Hindi and translated in Kannada for the local people.