Mahasamund (Chhattisgarh), Nov 18 (IANS) Accusing the Congress of hindering Chhattisgarh's development and defrauding India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the people to vote the BJP to power for a fourth straight term in the state.
Addressing an election rally here on the last day of campaigning for the second phase of Assembly polls, Modi attacked the Congress for "lying, misleading and defrauding" the country for 50 years and "destroying" four generations of people through their misrule.
In his nearly 45-minute speech, Modi dedicated most of his time for attacking the Congress and the Nehru-Gandhi family and elaborated how his government, since 2014, has ushered in all-round development across the country.
Hitting out at the Congress over dynasty politics, Modi accused the Nehru-Gandhi family of not allowing Dalit leader Sitaram Kesri to complete his term as party chief and "threw him out on the footpath" to make way for Sonia Gandhi.
"The country knows that Sitaram Kesri, a Dalit, was not allowed to complete his five-year-term as Congress president. He was thrown out of office and into the footpath to make way for Sonia Gandhi as the new party chief," said Modi, and again challenged the Congress to appoint a non-Gandhi as party president for five years.
Without taking names, he also took pot-shots at Congress veteran P. Chidambaram, who in response to Modi challenge on Saturday, had listed the names of Congress presidents from outside the Gandhi family.
"One of the family's courtiers has come out with a list (of presidents from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family) but then where they allowed to complete their terms," asked Modi.
He ridiculed the erstwhile Manmohan Singh-led UPA regime as a "remote controlled government", and said Raman Singh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, ruling the state since 2003, could do real work only after the BJP took power at the Centre in 2014.
"The first 10 years of the Raman Singh government were spent fighting the negative forces. The remote-controlled government in Delhi did not allow Raman Singh to work for his state. It was only after 2014 that he could work to bring in development in the state."
Comparing Chhattisgarh to an 18-year-old adult, Modi said the Assembly elections were no ordinary polls.
"Do you want to give an opportunity to people who ruined the lives of earlier generations of the state?" asked Modi, warning the people against voting for the Congress. The BJP, he said, was the answer for Chhattisgarh's progress.
Referring to Congress President Rahul Gandhi's pledge to waive farm loans if his party came to power in the state, Modi said the Congress' days of getting votes by "lying and misleading people" were over.
"It has been almost a year since your party came to power in Karnataka but what happened to your promise of waiving loans of farmers?"
The Prime Minister denied that his government waived Rs 3.5 lakh crore of corporate loans of a handful of industrialists.
"It is them who gave out indiscriminate loans and allowed the banks to be looted. Between 2006 and 2014 they gave out loans equal to the amount that was given after independence till 2006. It is our government which dared to enact tough laws and seized billions of rupee worth of properties of the fraudsters who have absconded."
Modi dared the Congress to select someone capable as party president who does not belong to the Nehru-Gandhi family.
As many as 72 constituencies spread across 19 districts go to the polls in the second and final phase of Assembly elections on Tuesday. The first phase for 18 seats was held on November 12.
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