The Opposition is suffering from the "Narendra Modi-phobia", Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said Monday.
Addressing a rally in Narsinghpur Madhya Pradesh ahead of the Assembly election, Shah asked the Congress to give an account of what the four generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family did when they ruled the country.
"The Opposition is suffering from Narendra Modi- phobia. They just want to get rid of Modi from the prime minister's post, while we want to get rid of poverty, insecurity and air pollution among others," Shah said.
The BJP chief said the Modi government launched 129 developmental schemes in four years. "Give an account of what the four generations (of Nehru-Gandhi family) did when they ruled the country," he said.
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"In a recent rally, (Congress chief) Rahul Gandhi uttered Modi's name 44 times in his 22-minute speech. I am wondering whether he is campaigning for the BJP or the Congress," Shah said, in remarks laced with sarcasm.
He also lauded the Centre for the Army's surgical strike on terror launchpads across the border post the Uri attack in 2016.
"When the Uri terror attack took place, the entire country was angry. Modi ordered surgical strikes and made India the third country in the world after the US and Israel who have avenged killings of its soldiers," he said.
Shah alleged that former prime minister Manmohan Singh had left the Indian economy at ninth position in the world in 2014, which, he said, the BJP raised to the sixth position.
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"By the time counting of these polls is done, India would have surpassed the UK to become the fifth-largest economy in the world," he added.
Madhya Pradesh goes to polls on November 28 with 2,907 candidates in the fray from 230 assembly seats. The results will be declared on December 11.
Stakes are high for the BJP as the Congress is going all out to wrest power from the saffron party, which has been ruling the state for 15 years.
Of the major parties, only the BJP has fielded candidates on all 230 seats.
The Congress, which tried unsuccessfully to forge a pre-poll alliance with Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party and Akhilesh Yadav-led-Samajwadi Party, later joined hands with Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) for the election.
The Congress is contesting on 229 seats and has left one seat — Jatara in Tikamgarh district — for the LJD.
(For more Assembly elections stories, click here)
PTI
