Ahmedabad:
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who completed 11 years in office yesterday, dared Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today to take him on in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections.
"I dare Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come and have competition with me. You build roads, I also build roads, you build canals and I also do the same, you build hospitals and I build hospitals too. Let the people see it... whoever has done a better job, people will accept him," he said, adding "...but they don't want to have a competition for development with me. They only want to do sloganeering," Modi said addressing several poll rallies in this district.
Mr Modi also said that Gujarat could not be taken "for a ride" anymore.
"I warn Congress, I warn Delhi 'sultanate' that those days are gone when you would take Gujarat for a ride," he said.
Mr Modi also said UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi should apologise on the issue of rising inflation.
"Did it (Congress before 2009 general elections) not promise to check inflation in 100 days if it came to power? Did the prices go down after they (UPA II) came to power? When Soniaji came to Rajkot, she did not speak anything about inflation. Is this not cheating?" Mr Modi said referring to Mrs Gandhi's recent visit to the state.
"Soniaji should apologise for cheating the people of the country on the issue of price rise," he added.
Ridiculing Mrs Gandhi's statement that there was no development in Gujarat and that whatever development the state saw was due to the Congress, Mr Modi said,"... She has no knowledge of history and that is the reason she is making such statements on development of Gujarat."
"Of all the chief ministers that the country has seen in the last 60 years, I have suffered maximum injustice at the hands of the Centre," he added.