 "Dislodge 'ma-beta' govt: Modi")
On Monday, Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s prime ministerial candidate, exhorted voters to dislodge the "ma-beta" (Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi) government at the Centre. He said people should vote to install a strong and able government at the Centre.
At a well-attended rally at the Bandra-Kurla Complex here, Modi said India's image had taken a beating due to the coal block allocation scam, the Commonwealth Games scam and a series of rape incidents across the country. He criticised the United Progressive Alliance government for non-utilisation of the Rs 1,000-crore Nirbhaya corpus created after the December 16, 2012, gang-rape in Delhi. Its inaction notwithstanding, the "insensitive" government had earmarked Rs 1,000 crore under the same head in the 2014-15 interim Budget, too, he added.
He told the gathering the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance would win more than 300 seats and form the next government, which would meet the aspirations of the youth, especially those aged 18-28.
Modi said going by what he had seen during his tour across the country, he felt the BJP and its allies would win in nearly every state, while the Congress wouldn't be able to open its account in many states. "It will be a poor performance by the Congress. In some states, it won't be able reach double digits," he added.
"For him (Rahul Gandhi), Bharat is mother's land but for us it is motherland. For him, the country is honeybee, but for us it mother. For him, poverty is tourism, but for us it is a matter of concern," Modi said. He alleged the Congress was avoiding replying to a host of issues, including growing unemployment, poverty and safety for women, adding the party was merely keen to rake up the issue of secularism.
He said it was ironical power plants with generation capacity of 20,000 Mw were shut for want of coal. "The Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat has been ready since the last seven years, but the state government could not install gates for want of an approval from the Centre. Had this been done, Maharashtra would have received uninterrupted power supply worth Rs 400 crore," he added.
At a well-attended rally at the Bandra-Kurla Complex here, Modi said India's image had taken a beating due to the coal block allocation scam, the Commonwealth Games scam and a series of rape incidents across the country. He criticised the United Progressive Alliance government for non-utilisation of the Rs 1,000-crore Nirbhaya corpus created after the December 16, 2012, gang-rape in Delhi. Its inaction notwithstanding, the "insensitive" government had earmarked Rs 1,000 crore under the same head in the 2014-15 interim Budget, too, he added.
He told the gathering the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance would win more than 300 seats and form the next government, which would meet the aspirations of the youth, especially those aged 18-28.
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"Do you want a government known for dilly-dallying, a weak government running on the oxygen back-up provided by mother and son? Or do you want a strong and able government, determined to bring change for a better future," he asked the crowd.
Modi said going by what he had seen during his tour across the country, he felt the BJP and its allies would win in nearly every state, while the Congress wouldn't be able to open its account in many states. "It will be a poor performance by the Congress. In some states, it won't be able reach double digits," he added.
"For him (Rahul Gandhi), Bharat is mother's land but for us it is motherland. For him, the country is honeybee, but for us it mother. For him, poverty is tourism, but for us it is a matter of concern," Modi said. He alleged the Congress was avoiding replying to a host of issues, including growing unemployment, poverty and safety for women, adding the party was merely keen to rake up the issue of secularism.
He said it was ironical power plants with generation capacity of 20,000 Mw were shut for want of coal. "The Sardar Sarovar dam in Gujarat has been ready since the last seven years, but the state government could not install gates for want of an approval from the Centre. Had this been done, Maharashtra would have received uninterrupted power supply worth Rs 400 crore," he added.