Congress will save its govt rather than rupee: Modi

Kick-starting the BJP’s election campaign in poll-bound Rajasthan on Tuesday, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi came down heavily on the UPA government and said if the country wants to eliminate corruption, it must vote out the Congress from power.

Mocking the UPA government for its various multi-crore scams, Modi said the ABCD of Congress is A for Adarsh scandal, B for Bofors, C for Commonwealth Games scams and D for Damad ka Karobar (business of son-in-law).

Blaming the Congress for rampant corruption, he said the corrupt UPA government has put the country on the “verge of destruction”. Modi said, “If we want to get rid of corrupt in our country, the remedy is to get rid of the Congress.”

He was speaking at a public rally at Amroodon Ka Bagh in Jaipur to mark the completion of the 78-day-long pre-election ‘Suraj Sankalp Yatra’ by former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje across the state.

Ridicules PM

Modi also ridiculed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his comment that he would be happy to work under Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. “The nation had no idea what transpired at the G20 Summit. But we know one thing,  the PM returned to announce who would be the new boss. The country has seen a government in the last 10 years which has no power to make decisions, while those who run the government have no accountability,” said Modi, lambasting the dual power centre under UPA hampering decision making.

He said the Congress before Independence was different; it was an organisation dedicated to “desh bhakti” (nationalism), but post-Independence, the entire party is immersed in ‘Bhakti’ (devotion) to one family”.

He slammed the UPA government as one without ‘Neta, Niti, Naitikta, Niyat” (Leader, policy, morality and right intention) .

“The failure of the present government at the Centre has led the economy to doom and landed the rupee in hospital where it is battling between life and death,” Modi added.
The Congress is now in a dilemma whether to save the rupee or the government, he said.
 The Congress would definitely go for the latter. The 62-year-old Gujarat chief minister, “parivartan ki aandhi” (storm of change) is quite obvious in Rajasthan as the people are craving change. But, however strong the storm, change will take place only when the party workers bring voters to the polling booths and make them vote in favour of the BJP,” Modi pressed forth.

He called upon youth to enroll other youth, especially first time voters in the voters’ list. “Forty per cent of Rajasthan voters are youth; for the Congress youth are merely votes, but for us in the BJP youth is power,” he said.

BJP national president Rajnath Singh accused the Congress of conspiring against Narendra Modi.

The Congress is desperate and may use any trick to target Modi indirectly, he said referring to the letter of Deputy Inspector General of Police targeting Modi as Congress handiwork.

Raje promised that if elected to power, she will ensure 24-hour electricity supply to every household in the state. She criticised the Congress state government for failing to provide adequate water and basic infrastructure.