Punjab CM questions Modi over his audacity in seeking votes

Patiala, May 9 (IANS) Hours before Narendra Modi was set to arrive in Punjab to campaign for the BJP-SAD, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh asked what audacity the Prime Minister had to seek votes from the people of the state for which he had done nothing.

Talking informally with mediapersons on the sidelines of his rally in support of Congress candidate Preneet Kaur in Pratap Nagar here, the Chief Minister said Modi had no moral right to ask for votes in Punjab, for which he had done "absolutely nothing and whose people he had left to fend for themselves despite the acute problems faced by them".

The Modi government did nothing for Punjab or its people in the last two years and two months since the Congress government took over in the state, despite repeated requests personally by him, showing a total lack of callous selfishness, he said earlier at the rally, asserting that his government was left to fend for itself despite the massive debt legacy left behind by the erstwhile BJP-SAD government.

Not only had the state gone ahead with its promised farm loan waiver scheme but had expanded the primary health insurance cover to 42 lakh families instead of the mere 14.96 lakh families covered under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Amarinder Singh pointed out.

Describing Modi as a self-obsessed man, the Chief Minister drew a sharp contrast between the Prime Minister's handling of the Balakot success and Indira Gandhi's achievement in splitting Pakistan to create Bangladesh during the 1971 war.

The nation has seen how Modi has ruled in the past five years, destroying every institution and ruining all sections of the society with his ill-conceived policies such as demonetization and GST, he added.

Amarinder Singh compared Modi's partisan style of functioning to that of Manmohan Singh, pointing out that the latter conceded all demands of the Akali government.

Stressing the need for change, the Chief Minister said the fate of the country was now in the hands of the people. The nation's growth rate had been put in the reverse direction and every citizen of India was suffering under the Modi regime, he added.

Referring to the Rs 31,000 food credit issue, the Chief Minister said the self-serving Akalis had put an unnecessary burden on the state by agreeing to convert the amount to a loan just ahead of the Assembly elections.

Despite his government taking up the issue at all levels, including meetings between the finance ministers, nothing had been done by the central government to ease the burden, he said.

Lashing out at the Akalis for their petty thinking in ignoring the development of his home constituency of Patiala, Amarinder Singh said Patialvis were his family and he would continue to ensure their welfare.

Earlier, Preneet Kaur also came down heavily on Modi over his fake promises and his "destructive decisions" such as GST and demonetization.

Modi's attack on the late Rajiv Gandhi showed the depth to which he could stoop in his desperation to woo voters, she said.