Kurukshetra/Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah pooh-poohed attempts Tuesday by the opposition parties to form a grand alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. They said it will not hurt the prospects of the BJP to return to power.
Their comments assume significance with AAP planning a huge rally in New Delhi, Wednesday. Twentry two opposition parties had came together at a rally January 19 in Kolkata convened by West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
While Modi mocked the planned ‘mahagathbandhan’ as ‘maha-milawat’(highly adulterated), stating all the faces in the group are only indulging in competition in threatening and abusing him, Shah dubbed the alliance as coming together of state-level leaders ‘not standing a chance’ in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. He also claimed that Modi has rock-solid support of people.
Modi said his government will speed up the campaign to rid the country of the corrupt, claiming that only such people had a problem with him while the honest trusted the ‘chowkidar’. He sought people’s support during his address at ‘Swachh Shakti 2019’, an event organised in Kurukshetra to recognise the leadership role played by rural women in the ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission.
“In 2014, you gave your votes for an honest and transparent government. Middlemen and those who snatched the rights of the poor have been thrown out of all the systems,” Modi said.
“Every honest person in the country trusts this ‘chowkidar’ (watchman) but those who are corrupt have a problem with Modi,” he added.
Modi asserted some people in Haryana are worried over the ongoing investigations by probe agencies against them. “Even in Haryana, you are witnessing how some people are worried because of probe by investigating agencies,” he said without naming anyone. But it was clear that he was referring to former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra.
“All the faces of this ‘maha-milawat’ are indulging in competition of threatening and abusing investigating agencies, court and Modi,” the PM said.
“But you be rest assured, this ‘chowkidar’ will neither be threatened nor browbeaten with their threats and abuses. Our ‘safai’ campaign to rid this country of the corrupt and the dirt is going to be further accelerated. For this campaign, your blessings should continue,” he added.
Shah sought to know from the opposition parties their prime ministerial ‘face’ and leader of their proposed grand alliance.
“The 2019 Lok Sabha election is an important step for India to become a superpower in the world. I have travelled across the country and I can see that people are standing like a rock with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have seen love for Modi in people’s eyes,” Shah said.
Shah said BJP workers ask him about the ‘mahagathbandhan’. “I want to tell them that it will not have any impact,” he asserted.
“What will happen if (former Prime Minister and JD-S supremo) Deve Gowda gives a speech in Gujarat or (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee in Maharashtra or (former UP Chief Minister) Akhilesh Yadav in Kerala? It will not have any impact whatsoever because they are only state-level leaders,” the BJP president said.
“I want people of this ‘gathbandhan’ to declare their candidate for PM’s post. Who is your leader? Who will run this country? We are very clear about it. Modiji will be the NDA candidate and only he will lead us,” asserted Shah.
PTI