Congress has double PhD in stalling projects: Modi

Nagpur/Pune: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), labelling the Opposition’s coalition in Maharashtra as the “biggest players of corruption” and appealed to the people to vote for the Mahayuti candidates for rapid development in the state.

Modi said if the Congress and its allies come to power in Maharashtra, the state’s development projects would come to a grinding halt. “The Congress has a double PhD in stalling projects. If you want rapid development to continue, re-elect the Mahayuti candidates,” he told an election meeting in Chimur in eastern Vidarbha’s Chandrapur district. At another poll meeting in Pune, Modi said the Congress is speaking the “language of Pakistan”, by seeking to restore Article 370 in Kashmir. “Nobody can bring back Article 370, we have buried it deep in the ground,” the PM said, ahead of the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly elections. The country will never agree to the demand for restoration of Article 370, he said. “The Congress has passed a resolution in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to again implement Article 370. Those who are showing Constitution books to the country and distributing blank books in Maharashtra, I would like to ask them, they (Congress) have ruled the country for 6-7 decades, but why was the Constitution made by Babasaheb Ambedkar not implemented in the whole of India?” he said.

The PM also accused the Congress of dividing people, saying it had been the mentality of the Congress’ ‘shahi parivar’ (royal family) that it was born to rule the country. “This is the reason that after Independence, the Congress never allowed Dalits, backward classes and Adivasis to progress,” Modi said.

“It is a dangerous game of the Congress to break your unity. If a tribal society gets divided into castes, its identity and strength will be lost,” Modi said at the rally ahead of voting on November 20. “If you do not remain united, then the Congress will snatch away your reservation,” he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leads the Mahayuti alliance, with the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and is hoping to retain power in a high-stakes contest.

The MVA, which comprises the Congress, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the NCP (Sharadchandraji Pawar), is aiming to replicate its performance in the Lok Sabha elections, when it won 30 of the state’s 48 seats. Modi described BJP’s “Sankalp Patra” poll manifesto as a commitment to Maharashtra’s development. “The rapid development of Maharashtra is beyond the reach of the Aghadi. They have only mastered the art of hindering growth,” he proclaimed.