BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh
Attacking Congress for "doing nothing for the poor", BJP's prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi today said the ruling party, over generations, never wanted to educate people and eliminate poverty as it was afraid of being stripped of power.
"Congress knows that the moment masses get educated, their chairs will be in danger," Mr Modi said, addressing a poll meeting in Mandsaur on the last day of campaigning for Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh on November 25.
Targeting the Nehru-Gandhi family, he said, 'Why are four generations of a family saying the same thing (on poverty) but doing nothing for the people of the country."
Mr Modi alleged that the Congress is "not doing anything for the poor because it knows that if the country gets rid of poverty, they will be out of power."
"Whenever elections come, Congress keeps chanting the name of the poor. But they will do nothing (to remove it). If poverty goes, so will their chairs," he remarked.
The BJP leader recalled the days of the Emergency and the polls held in 1977 and urged "people to fight the elections".
"I can say after touring Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan that people are fighting these elections (this time)," he said.
The Gujarat Chief Minister also heaped praised on his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan for launching a series of developmental programmes in the state.
"I won't talk of Gujarat. There are two governments, one in Madhya Pradesh and other Rajasthan. See the difference in their work and then decide for whom to vote," Mr Modi said.
Without naming Congress General Secretary and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, Mr Modi said ten years ago, a person had done 'Bantaadhar' (made it worse) of the state, but in the last ten years, things had changed.
Targeting Congress for its "groupism", Mr Modi said an MP of the region was locked by the warring factions of the party sometime back. He was referring to Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan.
The Gujarat Chief Minister claimed that according to his information, the lock was opened only after Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi intervened.