Modi seeks voters’ blessings, Oppn says BJP will be ousted

NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought Sunday people’s “blessings” for the NDA in the Lok Sabha polls, saying his government has made possible what was earlier deemed impossible, but opposition parties said voters will throw it out of power for “wasting” its historic mandate and practising “all talk no work”.

As the Election Commission declared a seven-phase general election starting April 11, political parties welcomed the muchawaited announcement with the ruling alliance making a pitch for its re-election while its rival expressing confidence of unseating it.

Seeking people’s support for the BJP, its president Amit Shah said the Modi government has taken bold decisions for their welfare in its first term and will ensure India’s giant leap to make everyone “happy and prosperous” in its second.

Modi in his tweets drew a comparison of his government’s performance with the preceding Congress-led UPA government, asserting that the last five years have shown what was earlier deemed impossible has now become possible.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government has achieved “phenomenal results” in various spheres of governance during this term, he said, citing a number of its welfare initiatives.

The Congress, however, hit out at the government saying it will be best remembered for “wasting” its historic mandate and that all its promises remained “unfulfilled”.

At a press conference after the announcement of the poll schedule, Congress leader K C Venugopal said people will change the Modi government that believes in all talk and no work. All its promises have remained unfulfilled, he said asserting that it will be defeated when votes are counted on May 23. Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel claimed the upcoming elections will herald a new era ending five years of “chaotic, despotic and destructive” dispensation and the country will return to the path of “sobriety, integrity and inclusivity”.