Congress playing negative politics: Modi

Says he is speaking out in ‘Jan Sabha’ as voice of govt. throttled in Lok Sabha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes a break during his address at a rally in Chandigarh on Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday >lashed out at the Congress over the deadlock in Parliament, saying 40 MPs were conspiring to block the development of the country.

Speaking at a public meeting in Chandigarh, the Prime Minister, who addressed rallies across three States, said he had decided to share his feelings because “jan sabha” (public assembly) was above the Lok Sabha where the government’s voice was being “throttled” despite being given a massive mandate by the people.

“Beyond Lok Sabha is ‘jan sabha’ and that is why I am expressing my views here. Some people (the Opposition) are doing this just out of arrogance. The people will not forgive these parties for their conduct in Parliament,” he said.

Mr. Modi, who visited Chandigarh

> first to inaugurate a terminal at the airport , expressed regret over the inconvenience faced by citizens due to his visit after the State government ordered all government and private schools closed. An inquiry would be held and responsibility would be fixed, he tweeted.

At a rally in Saharanpur of Uttar Pradesh later in the day, the Prime Minister made it a point to praise Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for his commitment to democracy.

“Mr. Mulayam Singh is my opponent, but he respects and supports democracy. He was serious about ensuring that Parliament functions. But the negative politics of the mother and son [Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi] didn’t let the House function,” Mr. Modi said.

The Prime Minister’s praise for Mr. Yadav comes at a politically crucial time, just a week after the Samajwadi Party walked out of the “grand alliance” against the BJP in Bihar.

Mr. Modi’s 15-minute speech surprisingly had no criticism of the State government, confusing the BJP leaders present on the stage who criticised the Samajwadi Party government before Mr. Modi spoke.

His speech though contained the >usual rhetoric targeting the Congress and its leadership. “The mother gets angry thinking about what happened to her son and the son gets angry that a tea seller is heading the government at the Centre. The mother and son think that only they have the right to rule the country and that is why refuse to accept democracy and continue with their negative politics,” Mr. Modi said.

Mr. Modi’s rally at Suroorpur, a village eight kilometres from Saharanpur city, was a last-minute addition to the PM’s schedule. The turnout of 10,000 people was rather impressive given that the rally was organised at a notice of just 24 hours.

Mr. Modi’s next stop was Rishikesh, his first visit to Uttarakhand as Prime Minister.

OROP Nearly 5,000 people, mostly BJP workers from Rishikesh and nearby areas, including Haridwar and Dehradun, attended the rally where the PM’s speech assumed great significance after the Centre’s recent >announcement of the one rank, one pension (OROP) schem e for ex-servicemen.

“The final figure came to Rs. 10,000 crore. It is a big amount for a country like ours, but the honour of our jawans is beyond measure, so we decided to give the benefit of OROP to our jawans,” he said