Modi running across Himachal in bid to garner support: Amarinder

Shimla, Nov 5 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "termite" remark against the Congress and said he was running from one constituency to another in a bid to garner support for his party's candidates.

Claiming Modi's comments reflected his despair at the anti-BJP swing that has started emerging across the country, he said had that been the case the country would have collapsed by now, instead of progressing the way it had done in the past 70 years.

"Himachal Pradesh also would not have developed the way it had done under various Congress governments," Amarinder Singh said at public meetings in Nachan in Mandi district and Fatehpur in Kangra district ahead of the state's November 9 assembly polls.

It was obvious that the Prime Minister had realized that the BJP was headed for an electoral rout and had pitched all his personal efforts into salvaging the situation in the bleak hope that he would be able to befool the people, he said.

These last-ditch efforts were unlikely, however, to yield results as the people of the state had seen the devastation wreaked by the BJP wherever it was in power, including at the national level, he added.

From demonetisation to GST, the Modi-led BJP's ill-conceived decisions had brought the people to their knees and disillusioned them completely from the party, said the Punjab Chief Minister.

When demonetisation struck, people did not have money to buy even a cup of tea, he said, adding with the promised GST (Goods and Service Tax) money yet to roll out, state governments were having a hard time carrying out any development and welfare works.

Amarinder Singh also ridiculed the Prime Minister's decision to bring in the bullet train at a huge cost to the exchequer, offering rides at a price higher than airline tickets.

"Why would anyone want to pay more for a train journey when they could fly at a cheaper cost," he said, adding the Modi government clearly had no qualms about wasting the tax-payers' hard-earned money.

Like him, Virbhadra Singh has also declared this to be his last election as they both wanted to hand over the reins now to the youth, said Amarinder Singh, adding the outgoing Himachal Chief Minister had decided to contest these polls only because he wanted to join in battling the current crisis facing the country and bring in more development in the state.

Himachal Pradesh will go to polls for 68 assembly seats on November 9. The votes will be counted on December 18 along with those in Gujarat.

In Himachal Pradesh, Congress won 36 of the 68 seats in 2012 with a vote share of 42.81 per cent, while the BJP bagged 26 seats with a 38.47 per cent vote share.