As the elections are nearing in Gujarat, the BJP and Congress are not leaving any chance to attack each other in the battleground. While Congress pulled down on the BJP star campaigner Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by posting a meme mocking his earlier days as the ‘chaiwala’. BJP is also not leaving any opportunity to hit back hard on the opposition.
Narendra Modi is on a two-day tour to the poll-bound state, adding spark and boosting the morale of the BJP members, in the last leg of the campaign ahead of the first phase of the elections to be held on 9 Dec.
During the campaigning, while addressing the gathering, Narendra Modi said that “I thought leaders of 115-year-old Congress would not play such games at least. They saw it as an easy way out by throwing dirt of the bJP, cursing us and then run away and spitting on us and then hide faces. He further added that from the past two months he has been observing that the entire Congress party has lost its character.
While addressing the gathering in Kutch, Narendra Modi also brought up the earthquake, that devasted the lives of Kutch 60 years back and said that the then Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru did nothing for the Gujaratis. He said that “some 60 years back, there was an earthquake in Kutch, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister then, I want to ask the people of Kutch, someone tell me, after the earthquake, was any relief work done for the people?”
He further questioned that “does anyone remember a single good work done by the then PM, is anything visible?”
Hitting back on the remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress spokesperson, in a press conference said that the statements made by honorable Prime Minister are not true. He alleged that Narendra Modi is deliberately trying to mislead the people of Gujarat by making such false accusations.-
Congress spokesperson, Anand Sharma taking a dig at the comments of Modi said that “he is trying to mislead the people of Gujarat on the contributions of Jawaharlal Nehru with his untrue statements and said it reflected his unhealthy mindset.”
He added that the remarks made by Modi during his speeches is baseless and the facts do not support his claims. BJP and the Prime Minister is getting restless with each passing day, seeing the growing overwhelming support for the Congress. He accused that since the ruling JBP and Narendra Modi is fearing its defeat, therefore they are trying to confuse the voters with falsities in Gujarat.
The Congress spokesperson said that the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi made some remarks on the first Prime Miniter of India Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, saying that he did not do anything for Gujarat. The Congress party condemned the statements of Modi and underlining the reality, Sharma said that Narendra Modi may not be aware of the facts, even though he has been the Chief Minister of Gujarat for 12 years.
Presenting the facts Anand Sharma said that “as far as Jawaharlal Nehru is concerned, he established the Amul in 1949 in Gujarat, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) was set up by him in the state, the single National Institute of Design in entire India was set up in Ahmedabad under Jawaharlal Nehru, and the formation of Gandhinagar, the state’s capital, ONGC’s complex at Ankleshwar and development of ports like Kandla and Dahej, besides the setting up of airports were all done under Nehru.
During the press conference, he told that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be cautious about making such false statement in public as it will only make him a laughing stock, as the Congress is capable of exposing him. He also warned that if Modi makes false claims, Congress will make sure that he gets the response he deserves.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister and the BJP government in Gujarat, the Congress spokesperson said that it should be left to the people of the state and the country to judge the performance of incumbent Prime Minister and former Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi and his government.
Modi is carrying forward the last leg of campaigning in Gujarat and the BJP had saved its trump card for the last. With the growing popularity of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, the party was getting confident about the polls, but BJP too is adamant about winning 150+ seats. The ruling party in the poll-bound state had said that no matter what the Congress tries, ultimately when Modi comes for campaigning in Gujarat, he will lure back all the people to BJP’s side.
The battle between the two parties is intensifying with each passing day, as the results of the Gujarat assembly election will decide the future of Congress as well as Narendra Modi and BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections due in 2019.
Gujarat will go to polls in two phases, the first will be held on 9 Dec where 84 of the total 182 assembly seats will go to polls. The remaining 94 seats will face the voting in the second phase on 14 Dec. The results of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections will be announced simultaneously on 18 Dec.