The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, on Saturday targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, saying the two would have to pay the price for running the government from behind the scenes.
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Addressing an election rally at Kakoijan in lower Assam’s Bongaigaon district, Mr. Modi cited the book, The Accidental Prime Minister by Sanjaya Baru, former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to claim that the United Progressive Alliance government was remote-controlled.
Mr. Modi alleged that Hindus in Bangladesh had been forced to leave the neighbouring country and come to India due to persecution. He called upon all States to share the burden of providing shelter to those Bangladeshi Hindus. Hitting out at the UPA government, he said it did not have the courage to drive out illegal Bangladeshi migrants from Assam, only a BJP-led government would be able to do so. Mr. Modi alleged that the Congress government in Assam had let poachers kill rhinos while forests had been destroyed to allow illegal Bangladeshi migrants to settle down.