Congress encouraged violence to hide graft: Modi in Chhattisgarh
RAIPUR: The Congress encouraged violence to hide its corruption, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a poll rally on Tuesday, a day before the campaigning for the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls ends, and promised that he will “root out” Maoism from Chhattisgarh.
Addressing a rally in Mahasamund constituency in support of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Rupkumari Chaudhary, Modi alleged that Congress and development cannot go hand in hand, and wherever the grand old party was in power, corruption and violence peaked.
“When the Congress was in power in the North East, violent activities could not be brought under control, and as long as it ruled in Chhattisgarh, Maoist violence kept on rising,” he alleged. “What is the connection between Congress and violence? The answer is corruption. Congress kept on encouraging violence to hide its corruption...”
Asserting that the BJP government brought both corruption and Maoist violence under control, he said: “Maosim has been declining rapidly in Chhattisgarh. I give a guarantee to the parents that I will root out Maoism. I assure mothers that the lives of their children will not go to waste...”
Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh will go to polls on April 26.
Earlier, Modi addressed a poll rally in Sakti district, which comes under Janjgir-Champa constituency, where he hit out at the Congress over a remark by its Goa candidate that the Constitution was imposed on the coastal state.
“Congress is not able to digest the participation of Dalits, Adivasis and backward classes in power. Now the party has started a big game. Earlier a Congress MP from Karnataka said south India should be declared a separate country, now a Congress candidate from Goa said the Indian Constitution is not applicable in Goa,” Modi said.
He was referring to Congress candidate from South Goa, Viriato Fernandes, who on Monday said that Constitution of India was “forced” on the state after it was liberated from Portuguese rule. Janjgir-Champa seat will vote in the third phase on May 7.