Modi on campaign trail, attacks Congress, NCP

I want Maharashtra to be ahead of Gujarat, says prime minister

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched an all out attack on the erstwhile ruling coalition  Congress-NCP in Maharashtra by accusing it of destroying a whole generation through its corruption.

“Nobody benefited from the Congress-NCP government. Farmers, Dalits, youth, adivasis, women, villages, towns... none benefited. A whole generation was destroyed,” Modi said, addressing his first election rally at Beed, the parliamentary constituency of former Union minister the late Gopinath Munde, who died in a car crash earlier this year.

“I want to take Maharashtra ahead of Gujarat. I want it to be at the top of all states, but for that I need a government through which I can take up work,” Modi said.

“Maharashtra is like an elder brother. We (Gujarat and Maharashtra) were together once. You (the people) gave political stability to them (Congress-NCP) but they did not care and now Maharashtra is known for all the wrong reasons,” he added.

He said the Congress-NCP coalition was a union where the clock ticked and the hand polished off everything, referring to the election symbols of the two parties. “There is no difference between Congress and NCP, they belong to the same clan. They set separate shops for some reason but their character, ideology, habits and goals are one. They are not nationalists, they are corrupt,” he said.

Hitting back at Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who attacked his government over inflation and price rise earlier in the day, Modi said, “Those who ruled for 60 years are demanding the account of what my government did in 60 days. Petrol and diesel prices are down. I promise you I will pull the country out of the current mess in 60 months.” 

Referring to his Summit-level meetings with world leaders, he said both China and Japan would set up industrial parks in states, including Maharashtra. Japan will cooperate in construction of high-speed railway between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. “All these will create large-scale employment,” he said

Without naming NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Modi said nothing was done to stop farmers suicide in Maharashtra when he was Union Agriculture Minister. “Those who did farmers’ politics in Delhi did not do anything to prevent the suicides. 3,700 farmers kill themselves each year in the state,” he said.