Modi woos NRKs, Kerala staff

Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday sought to focus on NRKs and their relatives in Kerala and also the state government employees for widening the NDA vote base in the Assembly elections.

Addressing an impressive NDA meeting at Puthiyakavu under Tripunithura constituency, Mr Modi said that if the NDA came to power in the state, the dignity and honour of the government employees, that  had been lost under the changing LDF and UDF rules, would be restored.

“I was told by visiting government officers in Delhi that when the LDF comes to power,  they give roles to half of the government employees while ignoring the other. When the UDF comes to power,  this happens in the reverse direction. This has to change and a BJP government in the state alone can do that,” Mr Modi said and added that the employees included teachers and others.

He  also said that the BJP government at the centre had  brought back hundreds of Malayalis and people from other states stranded in war-torn Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan and also in Sri Lanka.

He started his speech by saying that he had  a happy announcement to make for the people of Kerala. Six Keralites and three from Tamil Nadu, who were stranded in Libya, would be brought home safely on Thursday. Fr Prem from Tamil Nadu who was abducted by ultras in war-torn Afghanistan was also brought home safely. In another instance, 39 nurses lost in different countries were rescued, he said.

Such humanist activities of the central government which helped even hundreds of foreign nationals in these troubled areas and the earthquake-ravaged Nepal reach home had lifted the image of the country abroad, he said.  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi blasted both the LDF and the UDF for what he called the poor state of affairs in Kerala and added,  “though they appear as foes in the state, they are thick friends which is proved time and again in Parliament and also in West Bengal. Both are responsible for the retarded condition of Kerala in all sectors,” he said.

In an innuendo, he said that while the previous Congress government at the Centre had indulged in looting under the darkness of coal, the Oommen Chandy dispensation did it under the solar light.

“A BJP government will also promote tourism to provide employment in the state,” he said and  exhorted the voters to change the fate of the state for the better by voting for National Democratic Alliance candidates on May 16.