After the BJP’s success in the Assam Assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday made his party’s intention clear: it will attempt to make further inroads into eastern India.
After the BJP’s success in the Assam Assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday made his party’s intention clear: it will attempt to make further inroads into eastern India. Addressing the BJP’s Vikas Utsav rally at the AIIMS Ground here, Mr Modi, without directly referring to the ruling BJD headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik, said the government in Bhubaneswar was in a deep slumber and needed to be replaced by the BJP for rapid growth and development.
“BJP and vikas (development) are synonymous. Look at the BJP-ruled states, such as Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. They have made rapid strides in development in all sectors,” Mr Modi said. “Compare these states with non-BJP-ruled states. People in Orissa still languish in poverty. Despite being endowed with mineral resources, the state suffers from lack of infrastructure like roads, bridges and ports. Electricity is still a distant dream in many Orissa villages. Don’t you want development here Let’s bring BJP to power here,” he added.
Taking a dig at CM Naveen Patnaik’s populist sops, often attributed to the Biju Janata Dal’s victories in successive Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, the PM said: “If you roll out sops and make false promises, you can win elections, but we can never bring sustainable development in the state. People will still suffer from poverty and deprivation.”
