Agencies, New Delhi Launching a scathing attack on Congress, Gujarat Chief Minister and firebrand BJP leader Narendra Modi today said the ruling party has ‘’compromised the country’s interest for the interest of one family.’’
‘The existence of the Congress government at the Centre is a challenge for the BJP workers. The price rise has killed the common man but this government is ignorant. The Congress has no will to develop the nation. It is not in the Congress’ blood and character,’’ Mr Modi said at the party’s National Council here. Mr Modi accused the Congress party of working only for the ‘’benefit of one family.’’ He alleged that the Congress party had made sure that no leader was allowed to go ahead in the party so that no one could become a threat to the family itself.
‘’It is the Congress tradition to compromise with the nation’s interests for interest of one family. The Congress people removed Sitaram Kesari and captured the party,’’ the Gujarat Chief Minister said. He said the Congress gave the country a ‘night watchman’ by making Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister. ‘’My views may be different that from the BJP. Had Pranab Mukherjee become PM then the situation would not have been what it is today,’’ he said. Mr Modi attacked the Congress on all fronts whether it was price rise or inflation or corruption and said the BJP has to become an ‘alternative’ for people of the country.
Mr Modi said the Congress was the ruling party for a long time after the independence. ‘’Who had prevented the Congress from developing the nation? The Congress had no will for this,’’ he said amid clappings from the BJP workers. Mr Modi, while speaking on the session on ‘good governance and development’, said the Congress established National Advisory Council (NAC) consisting of ‘’five star activists having total disconnect with the common man’’. Alleging that there was an ‘’environment of pessimism’’ in the country and people have ‘’decided to remove the Congress from the power.’’ Mr Modi also praised late former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri for taking steps to increase the agricultural production. He said Gujarat and other BJP states have been performing well in development and good governance. ‘I am happy that Gujarat has forced the country to talk on development.
When I took over as the Chief Minister of Gujarat it had a revenue deficit of Rs 6,700 crore, today the state has a revenue surplus of Rs 4,000 crore,’’ Mr Modi said. ‘’Governments across the world would study models used by BJP for growth. We have plugged the leakages in PSUs in Gujarat,’’ he added. The Gujarat Chief Minister further said the BJP has to become an ‘alternative’ in the next general elections scheduled to be held in 2014. He urged party members to treat the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as a freedom struggle. ‘’We have no right to let the nation down,’’ the Gujarat Chief Minister said.
Mr Modi started his address on an emotional note saying that he had no words to explain what he felt when BJP president Rajnath Singh felicitated him yesterday. Mr Modi, the clamour for whom is growing in the BJP for projecting him as the party’s prime ministerial candidate in the next general elections, said, ‘’Gujarat’s victory was not the victory of one person. It was the victory of the whole party. It was the victory of party’s workers and central leadership. It was the victory of party’s political culture. It was the victory of the people of Gujarat.’’ Mr Modi praised former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the development works carried out by the NDA government. The Gujarat Chief Minister ended his speech on poetic note saying, ‘’I accept that we are faced with darkness ahead but who is stopping us from lighting a lamp.’’
