Taking a potshot at the Congress leadership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said while the opposition wanted parliament to function, one family holding a grudge for its electoral defeat was not allowing the Rajya Sabha to function.
“Those who were reduced from 400 seats to 40 seats (in the Lok Sabha) are creating obstacles. Opposition parties want parliament to function, but just one family which is holding a grudge for the defeat (in 2014 general elections) is not allowing the Rajya Sabha to function,” Modi said in his address at a public rally at Moran in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district.
He appealed to the people of Assam to vote for the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) in the coming assembly polls.
“State BJP president Sarbananda Sonowal has to be brought to power as happiness has to be brought in your lives,” Modi said.
The prime minister said the National Democratic Alliance government wanted to bring in laws to increase bonus to workers and increased navigation and trading on the Brahmaputra river. “These laws are awaiting a nod in the Rajya Sabha but it is not allowed to function.”
Modi also flayed Assam’s Congress government and said it failed to provide houses, drinking water, electricity and education to tribals working on tea gardens for generations.
“You have given an opportunity to all parties. You also know well who has done what. Give us one opportunity to serve you. There is a BJP-led government at the Centre. There should be a BJP government in the state as well for overall development,” the prime minister said.
The elections to the Assam state legislative assembly are due to be held before May this year.
Meanwhile Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi yesterday attacked Modi and his government for giving excuses on various issues and charged the BJP with “destroying” all pro-poor policies initiated by his party.
“The prime minister’s job is to run the country, not to make excuses. All that the prime minister has been doing for the last 18 months is to make excuses as to why the economy is not running, why farmers are not getting their dues, why labourers are not getting what they should get,” the Congress leader said in New Delhi.
“India did not choose Modi to make excuses. India chose a leader and the leader should not make excuses; the leader should do the job he has been elected to do,” Gandhi said while addressing a meeting of Pradesh Congress Committee presidents at the Congress office in the capital.
“We have been attacking the government for being anti-poor, anti-farmer, anti-labourer and anti-worker. I wanted to get a sense from PCC presidents about what is being done with regard to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme, right to food act and tribal bills in their states and how the BJP is attacking and trying to destroy these laws,” he said after the meeting.
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