Amit Shah addressing a poll rally in Odisha's Bhadrak parliamentary constituency on Tuesday. (Photo by arrangement)
Chandbali: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already bagged 310 Lok Sabha seats in the five phases of elections held so far and it is poised to cross the 400 seats mark as set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claimed Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday.
Addressing a poll rally at Chandbali under Bhadrak parliamentary constituency, Shah said people were turning out in great numbers to vote for the BJP as they want to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India for the third term and serve them in the right earnest.
“The huge turnout of voters at polling stations and long queues before the booths show their enthusiasm to elect Narendra Modi for the third term as the Prime Minister,” said Shah.
He took potshots at the Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi saying that they lacked “courage” and “strength” to tackle Pakistan in the past and deal with the Jammu and Kashmir issue.
“The Congress and its leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, are always afraid of Pakistan. They plead for peace with the neighbouring nation, saying the latter has got an atom bomb. So they never wanted to get Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) back to India. Let me make it clear that after coming to power we will surely get back PoK.
“PoK belonged to India, it is a part of India and it will always remain with this nation,” announced Shah as the crowd cheered his speech with thunderous applause.
The home minister took on the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government in Odisha. He alleged that it had not done anything significant in the last 25 years for the people of the state.
“This BJD government headed by Naveen Patnaik has done little for Odisha. Naveen Babu has grown old and now he is dependent on a Tamil Babu (a reference to CM Naveen Patnaik’s close aide V Karthikeyan Pandian). He must quit his position to make way for an Odia person to lead the state,” he observed.
Exhorting the people of Odisha, he said, “This is the land which had forced Emperor Ashoka to quit violence and accept peace. The people of Kalinga (Odisha) had preferred deaths to subjugation of Emperor Ashoka. Time has come to defend yourself from the design of the Tamil Babu to save your land,” Shah said.
The Union minister pledged a university status to Bhadrak College, establishment of a textile park and a medical college in the region; and procurement of paddy from farmers at Rs 3,100 per quintal.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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