Modi raises surgical strikes at rally
JAUNPUR, UTTAR PRADESH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday once again blamed opposition parties for politicising the September 29 cross-LoC surgical strikes. “It is unfortunate that some political parties are questioning the Army out of political motives. For them even national security is a political tool,” Modi said at an election rally here.
“It is unfortunate that some parties, in their greed for power, are just focusing on politics of opposing. But the people of the nation will not forgive this...” he said. He also said the Congress “made fun” of the soldiers by sanctioning just Rs 500 crore for One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
“They announced Rs 500 crore for OROP, and tried to cash in on it during the Lok Sabha polls. When we calculated, we found that Rs 12,000 crore is needed for OROP,” Modi said.
“Announcing just Rs 500 crore was cheating the Army,” he said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of voters came out to cast ballots in the penultimate phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, registering 40 per cent voting in six hours, with the highest polling seen in Kushinagar, Mau and Maharajganj constituencies.
A minor scuffle was reported from the Sadar area in Mau where police had to resort to lathicharge. Over 1.72 crore voters from 49 constituencies are deciding the fate of 635 candidates, of whom 175 are fighting independently.
Polling was slow in the first two hours, which later picked up steadily.