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Ahead of the Assembly elections in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday criticised the Congress government at the Centre for the rise in food prices and the corruption in the organisation and management of the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
“The government (at the Centre) is so arrogant that it doesn’t even want to discuss the issue of price rise,” the Gujarat chief minister said. He blamed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the high inflation and compared the rates of inflation during Singh’s term with that under former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Reading from a paper, Modi said, “During Vajpayee’s rule, inflation was less than four per cent, while under this prime minister, it has increased to over 11 per cent.”
He added the government was unable to push projects in power sector.
In his 50-minute speech in the city’s Dwarka suburb, Modi said the capital’s “elite club” would never accept him and he would remain a sore sight for them.
He referred to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as one with no work, as he had done at a previous rally here. “The Delhi chief minister has no work; yet, nothing happens,” he alleged, criticising Dikshit for the lack of infrastructure development in the transport and water sectors.
On his interaction with the prime minister, Modi said he had asked Singh to strengthen the provisions of The Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and declare onions an essential commodity. He said the Food Corporation of India should be “unbundled” and sought three divisions be created under the entity — for procurement, storage and distribution.
His dig at Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi drew the loudest cheers. Terming Gandhi ‘shehzada’ yet again, he said for the Congress vice-president, the country was a beehive, but for him (Modi), it was his mother.
The Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled for December 4. Saturday’s rally was also attended by the BJP’s Delhi chief ministerial candidate Harsh Vardhan, state president Vijay Goel and former party president Nitin Gadkari.
