Replying to a question on why the Congress was behind the Bharatiya Janata Party in the election campaign, Gandhi said his party's base rested in the poor, and their voice is generally sidelined.
"Our thinking is to give more and more rights to the poor. We want to give them a support system. Development is necessary but we have to also prepare human resources. That human resource will come from the poor," he said.
Gandhi claimed that development in Gujarat, where Modi is chief minister, was not inclusive. "The textile industry in Gujarat got closed. There is malnutrition. The farmers are dying of hunger," he said.
He alleged the Modi government has given large tracts of the state's land - "land equivalent to Vadodara city and a coastline equivalent to Mumbai" to an industrial group, without naming the Adani Group.
On becoming the prime minister, Gandhi said newly elected MPs of the party had the right to choose the prime minister and he was prepared to take up the post if MPs choose him.
