Modi unveils governance vision

Unveiling his governance vision, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday promised to set up a task force to bring back black money, unleash next-generation infrastructural reform and build 100 new cities to push growth if his party assumed power at the Centre.

Outlining his notion of India in a 75-minute speech at a public meeting that concluded the BJP’s three-day national council meeting, Modi emphasised on addressing regional aspirations and disparities even as he appealed to the electorate to give his party “60 months in power after 60 years of Congress rule.”

His idea of infrastructural reform included a network of bullet trains, a water grid, real-time data on agricultural and price establishment fund besides building specialised cities.

Modi took a swipe at Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s decision not to project Rahul Gandhi as the party’s prime ministerial candidate.

“I see a human angle behind this decision of the Congress. When defeat is imminent, which mother will sacrifice her son politically? The heart of a mother (Sonia) decided to protect her son,” said Modi, listing one of the several reasons he thought was behind Rahul Gandhi not being named the Congress’ prime ministerial candidate.

Though almost all Congress leaders, except general secretary Digvijay Singh, wanted Rahul to be named the prime ministerial candidate, Sonia had cited party tradition to oppose the move.