No charges on Sonia, Rahul Gandhi's rallies: P Chidambaram

JAIPUR: Taking a dig at BJP for charging Rs 5 per person for attending Narendra Modi's public meeting in Hyderabad, Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday said there would be no charge on the party's rallies of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or the Prime Minister.

"I would not react on what is the popularity measure of any other leader (Narendra Modi), but I assure you whenever Congress does a rally whether by party President Sonia Gandhi, party Vice President Rahul Gandhi, or the Prime Minister, we will not charge Rs 5," the Union Finance Minister said.

He was asked about Congress Minister Manish Tewari's comment that Baba Pravachan ticket costs Rs 100-100,000, cinema ticket costs Rs 200-500 even for box office flop, and Rs 5 for Modi's rally, how do you find them on popularity chart?

Chidamabaram, accompanied by Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, was speaking during a press conference here.

In a bid to cash in on Modi's popularity, BJP's Andhra Pradesh unit is collecting registration fee of Rs 5 per person to attend the public meeting. Modi, the newly appointed election campaign committee chief, will address the meeting on August 11.

The party has said that it would contribute the collected amount towards Uttarakhand flood relief.

When asked that the Gujarat Chief Minister had described UPA-2 tenure as flop governance, Chidambaram said, "You cannot fool all the people all the time.

"Our presentation by me and Azad is based on hard facts and figures. They (Modi or BJP) criticise for the sake of criticism, this people know very well. Congress led-UPA has touched the lives of common man and women in medical and health, education, IT and corporate sectors in a big way in the last 9 years," he said.

Azad said, "There is no reason to give unnecessary importance to their (BJP's) popularity stunt like Rs 5 ticket for Modi's rally."