Mahasamund: Accusing the Congress of hindering Chhattisgarh’s development and defrauding India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the people to vote the BJP to power for a fourth straight term in the state.
Addressing an election rally here on the last day of campaigning for the second phase of Assembly polls, Modi attacked the Congress for “lying, misleading and defrauding” the country for 50 years and “destroying” four generations of people through their misrule.
In his nearly 45-minute speech, Modi dedicated most of his time for attacking the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family and elaborated how his government, since 2014, has ushered in all-round development across the country.
Hitting out at the Congress over dynasty politics, Modi accused the Nehru-Gandhi family of not allowing Dalit leader Sitaram Kesri to complete his term as party chief and “threw him out on the footpath” to make way for Sonia Gandhi.
“The country knows that Sitaram Kesri, a Dalit, was not allowed to complete his five-year-term as Congress president. He was thrown out of office and into the footpath to make way for Sonia Gandhi as the new party chief,” said Modi, and again challenged the Congress to appoint a non-Gandhi as party president for five years.
Without taking names, he also took pot-shots at Congress veteran P. Chidambaram, who in response to Modi challenge on Saturday, had listed the names of Congress presidents from outside the Gandhi family.
“One of the family’s courtiers has come out with a list (of presidents from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family) but then where they allowed to complete their terms,” asked Modi.
He ridiculed the erstwhile Manmohan Singh-led UPA regime as a “remote controlled government”, and said Raman Singh’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, ruling the state since 2003, could do real work only after the BJP took power at the Centre in 2014.
“The first 10 years of the Raman Singh government were spent fighting the negative forces. The remote-controlled government in Delhi did not allow Raman Singh to work for his state. It was only after 2014 that he could work to bring in development in the state.”
Comparing Chhattisgarh to an 18-year-old adult, Modi said the Assembly elections were no ordinary polls.
“Do you want to give an opportunity to people who ruined the lives of earlier generations of the state?” asked Modi, warning the people against voting for the Congress. The BJP, he said, was the answer for Chhattisgarh’s progress. (IANS)
