On a day when the BJP’s principal political opponent, Aam Aadmi Party released its poll document for the Delhi poll, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday tried to woo the poor and lower strata of society — the backbone of the AAP’s support base — by repeating his government’s intent to wage a war on corruption and the promise of in situ development of slums.
Mr. Modi’s arrival in a chopper may have briefly distracted the audience from Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah’s address here on Saturday, yet his own address unlike the power-packed ones ahead of the Lok Sabha polls provided little for Delhi’s voters.
Describing the AAP as a “backstabber,” Mr. Modi asked Delhi’s voters not to repeat the “mistake” of voting for the Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit. “The very people whom you voted for last time backstabbed you. They shattered your dreams and destroyed Delhi. You gave them a befitting punishment in the Lok Sabha polls. People do not repeat their mistakes again and again,” Mr. Modi said at a rally in Karkardooma.Stating that Delhi had fallen short of giving his party a clear majority in the 2013 Delhi Assembly polls, Mr. Modi sought a clear mandate and asserted that his party would provide a clean and stable government which people have “never seen” in the past.
The Prime Minister did not name the AAP but mocked its performance in the Lok Sabha polls, saying it “created a world record in forfeiting deposits.”