Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under whom the price of a gas cylinder soared to Rs 1,100 across the country, is screaming from hoardings put across Madhya Pradesh: “Now gas cylinder for Rs 450!”

He is also presenting himself as a “guarantee” for the fulfilment of promises, a fight against corruption and uninterrupted progress. “Yeh Modi hai…,” he declared with a theatrical swagger at a rally in Satna.

Modi sought votes in his name, saying he had taken India to glory in the world. “Vishwa mein Bharat ka danka baj raha hai, dushman ke hausle pasht hain,” he told the rally.

While he spent most of the time criticising the Congress, he did not forget to mention the “nationwide rejoicing” over the completion of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

“Yeh Modi hai…” he again thundered, declaring that the person who made four crore houses for the poor had not yet built a house for himself.

In another meeting at Chhatarpur, he said: “The Congress had no concern for India’s rich heritage. Its leaders used India’s poor for their foreign friends’ poverty tourism. It is Modi who started taking care of the poor. I am giving free rations to the poor. I have transferred Rs 33 lakh crore into the people’s accounts in the last 10 years. The money stolen earlier is now spent on public welfare because you sent a chowkidar to head the government.”

As Modi was weaving a fantastic narrative to demonise the Congress and lionise himself, Rahul Gandhi blew into the scene with his nasty habit of placing the bare facts before the people.

“Did Modi speak a word on Vyapam? You all saw the video of Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s son going viral on social media where transfers of huge sums – Rs 100 crore, 18 crore, 25 crore – is being discussed. Did Modi speak a word on that?”

The audience roared: “No.”

Rahul continued: “Did Modi speak a word on a BJP leader urinating on a poor tribal? Did Modi speak on the rising atrocities on Dalits and women in Madhya Pradesh?”

Rahul added: “Did Modi say anything on how Adani is being handed over national assets? Did he utter a word on a caste census?”

The audience responded with cries of “No, no.”

Modi, who has been passionately holding forth on the recent allegations about the Mahadev App in Chhattisgarh, does talk about corruption in Madhya Pradesh, but only about what was done by the Congress 20, 30 or 50 years ago. He appears unfazed by the charge of duplicity on corruption.

Modi asked the people in Chhatarpur, an area in Bundelkhand where water is a perpetual crisis: “Congress ko satta ke liye tarsao. Sau saal tarsao. Jaise unhone aapko bund-bund paani ke liye tarsaya.”

Hours later in Neemuch, he said: “After Independence, the zeal to build the nation was crushed to help one family. The Congress’s divisive politics creates anarchy and terrorism. A vision is not possible where the focus is on division.” He also said the Congress aligns with international forces that work against India.

Priyanka Gandh posted this message on X: “There are two types of leaders. One who thinks he is omnipotent, who thinks he knows everything, who thinks everything belongs to him. The other, who thinks how to empower the people, how to ensure their progress. Because he thinks whatever he has belongs to the people.”

Addressing a public rally in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, she said: “I am told the people are fed up with the BJP here. (Cheers from the audience) With their lies, with false promises, with high prices, with job crisis, with the ruin in agriculture? They ruled for 18 years but gave no solutions to your problems. He (Shivraj Singh Chauhan) only says I am your Mama, don’t worry. Indira Gandhi worked for the poor and died for the country. She wasn’t called Mami or Chachi. But the relationship was of trust, of commitment.”

She added: “It doesn’t matter to me who calls himself Mama and who calls himself a fakir. The thousands of crore being given to the industrialists, the big companies being given to them, is theft. Those who hand over national assets to friends are corrupt. It is gaddari (treason).”

She also recalled the revolutionary laws like the Food Security Act that the UPA had enacted, and Modi’s silence when farmers were dying while protesting against the farm laws brought by him.