Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday trained his guns at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing voters in Bihar for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies amid the ongoing elections in the state.
Without specifically naming Gandhi, he used the sobriquet of Yuvraaj (Crown Prince) and said that the state's electorate will vote against him like the people of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh did a few years back, voting the BJP into power.
Modi also addressed another young local leader, Tejashwi Yadav – whose party, RJD, is a Congress ally – as a Yuvraaj and said both crown princes are "contesting merely for the sake of power".
In fact, during the ongoing campaign, Modi has been calling Yadav the "Yuvraaj of Jungleraaj" (Crown Prince of Misrule) referring to the legacy of the young leader's father whose fifteen-year tenure between 1990 and 2005 is considered a period of low development, high crime rate, and corruption.
Speaking at a rally in Bihar on Sunday, PM Modi said, "One crown prince has now met the crown prince of Jungleraaj (misrule). Both of the 'crown princes' will bite the dust in Bihar".
"The double crown princes are fighting to save their thrones", PM Modi said.
The BJP – JD (U) coalition has been governing the Indian state of Bihar since 2005, except for period between 2015 and 2017, when JD (U) allied with RJD to form a government. JD (U) later came back to the BJP fold. The first phase of Bihar elections has concluded, with two more phases to be held before the results are announced on 10 November.
