Prime Minister Narendra Modi should set up a camp office of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in Gujarat, the Congress said on Friday while taking a dig at Mr. Modi’s frequent visits to his home State.
The party also alleged that the BJP is campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly polls at taxpayers’ money by holding back-to-back programmes of the Prime Minister.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Gujarat Raghu Sharma claimed that the frequent visits of Mr. Modi indicated that all was not well with the BJP and there was a lot of anger against the ruling party.
Mr. Sharma said the BJP in the State was “anti-tribal” and it was evident from the recent attacks on Congress MLA and tribal leader Anant Patel, who was also present at the press conference. He alleged that the attack was done at the behest of Gujarat BJP chief C.R. Patil.
“Going by the frequent long visits of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to Gujarat, it is evident that all is not well with the BJP in their home State. To me, the Prime Minister should open his camp office in Gujarat, as he is spending many days there and is not focusing on governance in the country,” Mr. Sharma said.
‘Government’s expense’
Questioning the delay in announcing the poll dates for Gujarat by the Election Commission, Mr. Sharma said, “That is because several programmes of the Prime Minister are lined up. The BJP has not a single programme, all the programmes are at the government’s expense. Each programme is costing about ₹12 crore and all this is taxpayers’ money”.
The Congress leader accused the new entrants, the Aam Aadmi Party and the AIMIM, as “B-teams” of the BJP, as they were aiding the saffron party in elections across the country, including in Gujarat.
Mr. Sharma took a dig at Union Home Minister Amit Shah saying he was always seen in Gujarat these days, which was indicative of the rising unrest among local people in the State, which would be reflected in the coming Assembly elections.
The Congress leader claimed that there was a misconception that his party was nowhere in Gujarat but people were mistaken.
“I can say that we will win 125 seats and form the government,” he said, adding the Aam Admi Party was functioning as ‘B-team’ of the BJP to split the Congress vote.
