Ahmedabad: Chief Minister Narendra Modi, popularly called as "CEO of Gujarat", has attempted an image makeover for being "pro-poor", by organising 'Garib Kalyan
Melas' across the state even as the Opposition dubbed it as a facade and "tamasha".
Modi, who chose to bring over his image change mid-way to his five-year term, has already held at least 25 of the 50 'Garib Kalyan Melas' in the state where he claims have given benefits of various government schemes to the poor directly without involvement of any middlemen.
However, Opposition Congress has strongly criticised this image shift from "pro-rich" to "pro-poor".
"The attempt by organising such Garib Kalyan Melas is surely of image makeover from being called pro-rich to pro-poor, but the Chief Minister will not succeed. He is
trying to follow Rahul Gandhi but people know the BJP's truth," Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.
"The poor have traditionally voted for Congress while the vote bank of BJP is upper class. The chief minister is trying to woo poor people by organising such tamasha," senior Congress leader Arjun Modhvadia said.
The Opposition had mounted a concerted attack on Modi during the 2007 state election campaign and also in the run up to the last Lok Sabha elections, calling him a 'CEO Chief Minister' working for benefits of industrialists and ignoring the poor.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 08, 2010, 13:43