Attacking Congress Government for failing to control rising prices, Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged that the government lacked the intention to address the issue and alleged that its leaders were running away from accountability.
“Though inflation is the biggest problem today, Congress does not think so...You tell me, is inflation not one of the biggest problems?,” the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate said at an election rally in New Delhi.
Mr. Modi said price rise was under control during non-Congress rule like NDA and Janata Party governments.
“When Atal Behari Vajpayee was in power, was there price rise? No. Price was in control during the Morarjee Desai period also,” Mr. Modi said.
Sharpening his criticism against the ruling party, Mr. Modi said the Congress wants answers from Gujarat for every issues affecting people here.
“ Ye fashion ho gaya hai, Chunav Delhi aur Rajasthan mein hai, lekin jawab Gujarat ki sarkaar se maang rahe hain . (It’s become fashionable, there are elections in Delhi and Rajasthan, but they want Mr. Modi to answer questions on Gujarat).
He further said Congress is afraid of facing people and it has lost the people’s faith.
Obliquely referring to the snooping scandal involving illegal surveillance of a woman, Mr. Modi said Congress has done it earlier during the Gujarat elections without any success.
“They tried every trick to discredit me. But Gujarati people have defeated those attempts. Despite allegations that Congress made through Facebook and Twitter, people of Gujarat gave a befitting reply,” he said.
The venue of the BJP election meeting was Shahadara in East Delhi, an area largely inhabitated by migrants from Bihar and other states.
“If Bihar and UP were developed in the last 60 years, would people leave their family and come to Delhi for work? he asked in a bid to connect with migrants.
“Migrants from Odisha, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh are also in Surat and the city was awarded for best maintained city,” he said, adding Congress government does not have the intention to do anything for them.
Taking a dig at the top leadership of the Congress, Mr. Modi said, “Our PM is a big economist. We never questioned that. Finance Minister is also very educated. We never challenged that.”
“A top ranking Minister in the central government, who considers himself to be intelligent enough thinks he has got all the brains in the world and that the others are brainless.”
“The same Minister said prices are rising because poor are eating two vegetables now. Tell me, are prices rising due to this?” he asked.
Promising good governance, Mr. Modi said “In Gujarat we have started concept of One Day Governance. Why cannot this concept be replicated in Delhi?”
“At the root of all the problems is bad governance. Congress is not concerned with governance at all,” Modi said.
Stating that power is being provided at low tariff in Gujarat, Mr. Modi said “Congress claims that power is more expensive in Gujarat than in Delhi. This is false.”
Referring to BJP Chief Ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan, he said, “We promise good governance and we are presenting an honourable person as our CM candidate.”
Raking up the Commonwealth Games issue, he said “CWG was an opportunity to enhance our brand. Forget stealing money, they lost an opportunity to project Delhi to the world.”
He said Congress has lost the people’s faith.
