FATEHPUR (UP), May 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday took a jibe at the Congress saying its aim is to win just 50 seats so that it could save its “honour”, and he also mocked Rahul Gandhi for contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Rae Barely instead of Amethi which he lost to the BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019.
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Addressing an election rally here, the prime minister also claimed that INIDA bloc has been defeated in the first four phases of elections itself and its “disappointed” workers have now stopped leaving their homes for poll-related activities.
Modi said he had predicted that Rahul Gandhi would not dare to contest from Amethi and this has turned out to be true.
“The further news is that to save its honour, the Congress has now launched Mission 50. The target of the Congress is to get 50 seats in the entire country by any means,” he said.
The Congress recorded its worst-ever performance in the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, winning just 44 seats. Its performance improved slightly in 2019 when it won 52 seats.
Taking a swipe at the SP and the Congress, Modi said, “The dreams of ‘panja’ (Congress’s poll symbol) and ‘cycle’ (SP’s poll symbol) have shattered ‘khata-khat, khata-khat’. Now they are planning for post-June 4 as to who should be blamed for the defeat ‘khata-khat, khata-khat’. And, someone was telling me that tickets for foreign trips have also been booked ‘khata-khat, khata-khat’.”
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has used the phrase “Khata-khat khata-khat” to claim that a fixed stipend would flow into the accounts of poor women if his party comes to power.
“All the qualities of the Congress and the SP match with each other. They both are dedicated to ‘parivarvaad’ (dynastic politics). Both are in politics for corruption. They can do anything to please their vote bank. Both (of them) promote criminals and mafia, and both, the SP-Congress, are equally sympathetic to terrorists,” Modi said.
Intensifying his attack on the two INDIA bloc partners, Modi said, “The SP-Congress think that they will achieve what they want by dividing our society. The ‘shahzaade’ of the Congress is dreaming of putting a lock on the Ram temple (in Ayodhya).”
He asserted that Senior SP leaders say the Ram temple is useless. “The people of this alliance say that after coming to power they will destroy Sanatan Dharma,” Modi said.
On May 7, senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav had courted controversy with his remarks that the Ram temple in Ayodhya is “bekaar (useless)” as it has not been properly constructed, inviting sharp criticism from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who said that this shows the “reality” of the INDIA bloc.
Hitting out at the previous SP government in the state, Modi said, “UP used to be on top in crime during the SP government. But in terms of development, UP was counted as a backward state. But, today the BJP government has brought Uttar Pradesh at the top in terms of development.”
“Today, Uttar Pradesh is at the top among the states with the maximum number of expressways. It is on top in terms of the number of airports. UP is on top with metros in seven cities. Not only this, Uttar Pradesh is also on top in welfare schemes for the poor that I run.
“Since the BJP government came to power in UP in 2017, houses under the PM Awas Yojana have started getting built rapidly here. Till now, the BJP government has provided 15 lakh houses to the poor in cities and 35 lakh houses in villages. And to those who have not got pucca houses till now, I am also giving them a guarantee that every poor person will definitely get a pucca house,” the prime minister said.
Modi also said that the common man has “defeated the INDI Alliance” in the four phases of Lok Sabha polls.
“Currently, four phases of elections have been held in the country. But, the common man has defeated the INDI Alliance in these 4 phases only. Bhanumati’s clan is falling apart, it has surrendered. No one wants to work hard in the remaining elections. The workers of INDI Alliance were already disappointed, (and) now they have stopped leaving their homes,” Modi said.
The BJP has fielded Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti from Fatehpur. She is pitted against the Samajwadi Party’s Naresh Uttam Patel.
Fatehpur goes to polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20. (AGENCIES)
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