Narendra Modi addressing the rally in Ranchi on Sunday
, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, today targeted Rahul Gandhi once again, saying while nothing is being done to check price rise and corruption, the Congress leader has been only coming out with "akashvani" (celestial voices).
"In ancient times, people heard akashvani (celestial voices) that came as if they (voices) were not concerned about the happenings around... today, there is akashvani that CMs will do this, CMs will do that. People who are involved in corruption... if there is honesty in the words of people who do akashvani, then they should respond as to how corruption developed under Congress in Jharkhand," Mr Modi said at the Vijay Sankalp Rally in Ranchi without naming Mr Gandhi. (
Highlights of Narendra Modi's speech)
Mr Gandhi, the Congress vice president, met the Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states in Delhi on Friday during which he asked them to check prices and implement the Lokayukta Act on the lines of Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill.
He also disapproved of the Maharashtra government's decision to reject the Adarsh Commission's report on the society building scam.
Today, attacking Congress, Mr Modi said the ruling party at the Centre has become a "liability" and a "crisis" for the country as it has lost connection with the masses.
"Congress party, its governments and its leaders cannot listen to the voices of the people... people today want development, not division; they want opportunity, not political opportunism; they want security, not poison of communalism," he said.
Attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of inflation, the Gujarat Chief Minister said despite holding a meeting of chief ministers on price rise three years ago, the government has so far failed to take any steps in that regard.
Mr Modi also claimed he was made a head of a committee to recommend steps to curb price rise.
"There were two other CMs from UPA and Congress-ruled states. We gave 62 actionable points and recommended 20 initiatives. The PM said we did a good job. But two-and-a-half years have lapsed and no action has been taken. The central government has been paralysed," Mr Modi said.
Addressing a rally in Mumbai last week, Mr Modi had slammed Mr Gandhi on the issue of corruption.
Accusing successive Congress governments at the Centre of ignoring the demands of creation of a separate Jharkhand state, the BJP leader today said the voice of the people was ignored and at times suppressed.
Giving credit to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for carving Jharkhand out of Bihar, he said the state lagged behind in development.
He said while Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were created at the same time, the last two states were behind in development due to the policies of successive non-BJP governments.
Mr Modi said if Jharkhand is able to give all its 14 Lok Sabha seats to BJP in the 2014 general elections, the party will find it easier to form the next government at the Centre.
"It will ensure the development of the state," he said, adding that the present government at the Centre was not inclined towards development of the state. He said while Jharkhand produces coal, it lacks power plants. "The coal is exported from the state for the power plants... power plants should have been established in Jharkhand and electricity should have been supplied to other states."
"Any expert will say that a state with these kind of resources can match any developed country... such a state rich (in terms of resources) is still poor," he said.
Earlier, addressing the rally, BJP president Rajnath Singh hit out at the Centre for instituting a Commission of Inquiry into Snoop-Gate.
The commission will investigate charges of spying on a young woman in 2009 allegedly at the behest of Mr Modi.
"As soon as the allegations were made, Modi himself ordered an inquiry. There is a tradition that the Centre does not institute a fresh panel if state has already announced one," he said.
He claimed that Gujarat witnessed only one communal riot "but they (Congress) keep terming Modi as communal... now, an Ahmedabad court has given him a clean chit," Mr Singh said.