Launching the BJP campaign for the Haryana Assembly elections here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appealed to the voters to elect the party with a clear majority, “so that there is no hurdle between the Prime Minister and you, the people of Haryana.”
“If you want to move ahead, you must free Haryana from Congress misrule,” he said adding that he was confident the State would elect a BJP government. He recalled his long association with the State as party general secretary in-charge of Haryana and said, “Whenever I am here it feels like homecoming.” In a dig at the Congress, Mr. Modi said: “Those who have done nothing for the country in the last 60 years now want an account of my 60 days in office.”
He also attacked the Indian National Lok Dal and its chief Om Prakash Chautala who is campaigning across the State despite being on bail on medical grounds. The State BJP unit was present in full strength at the first of Mr Modi’s proposed ten election rallies in the State. In the absence of a leader with a pan-Haryana appeal, the party is banking heavily on Mr. Modi to re-kindle the Modi effect seen during the Lok Sabha polls when the party won seven out of the ten seats. Mr. Modi said that because of the decisive mandate given to his government at the Centre, there was new respect for India across the world.
