Captain being led to sacrificial altar by Bajwa, says Sukhbir UPA is a burden, threat to country: Modi

Chandigarh : BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday charged the Congress-led UPA Central government with becoming a burden and threat to the country. Addressing a ‘Bharat Vijay’ rally in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, actress Kirron Kher here, Modi said that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was unable to provide security to the country and had failed on all fronts. “This government has become a burden on the country. This government has become a threat for the country. The country is not secure with such a government which cannot protect its soldiers who are being beheaded (by Pakistan). Can the country be secure with such a government?” he said. Taking a dig at Congress, Modi said, “Mahatma Gandhi wanted to disband Congress after independence. But the Congress leaders did not listen to him also. Mahatma Gandhi’s dream will be fulfilled in this election.” Tearing into Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s remark on the BJP’s ‘India Shining’ balloon bursting in previous elections, he contended that the Congress had tried its best to burst the Gujarat development balloon but the people had rejected its move. Slamming Congress for not addressing the real issues of development and corruption, Modi said, “If this country has to progress, we will have to give good governance. Bad governance is like diabetes. It can finish everything.” “Congress does not want to resolve the issue of corruption. They have admitted that corruption cannot be tackled,” he added. He said that the time has come for the people to change Congress rule which has become the synonymous for the corruption. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, party president Sanjay Tandon, former Member of Parliament Satya Pal Jain and former Union Minster Harmohan Dhawan among those who were present on the occasion. Modi said said that winds of the change had already started and it would turn into tsunami after the elections. He said that the rising inflation and the corruption was the result of bad governance the nation was witnessing during the UPA rule. Attacking the government on its foreign policy, Modi said that the red carpet welcome was given by the Central government to the leaders of Pakistan when our jawans’ blood was boiling over the heinous act of cutting a head of solider. He asked why the government took the issue of the one rank, one pension at the time of the election while it has been lingering on for long. He said that had the NDA government won the election in 2004, the issue would have been solved. Sukhbir Singh Badal said that the people of the country were discarding Congress all over India. The party has only involved in the corruption and scams during its long rule of 60 years . Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has said that Punjab Congress leader Capt Amarinder Singh was being led to the sacrificial altar by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa, who had conspired to get him and other senior leaders fielded from the state, after Bajwa was forced to contest from Gurdaspur. “Mark my words. Partap Bajwa is the PPCC president and he would never digest Amarinder emerging victorious from Amritsar. Amarinder’s campaign is destined to be sabotaged from within by Bajwa, which will ensure his rout,” Sukhbir asserted in a statement released here, on Saturday. Explaining his views, he said, “Bajwa became jittery after being forced to fight from Gurdaspur and mooted the idea of fielding all the supposed heavyweights of the party. The purpose was to guard his flanks as he knows he will lose the election. He did not want to lose his PPCC presidentship and that is why he conspired to make all the senior leaders fight the elections.” SAD president said it is not only Bajwa, who wanted to ensure Amarinder’s defeat. “Even the Congress rank and file want to teach him a lesson for leading Punjab Congress to two successive Assembly defeats. The Congress worker can never forget the arrogance displayed by Amarinder during the run-up to the last Assembly elections and is waiting to teach him a lesson for remaining inaccessible to the ordinary worker and relying on a coterie, which included people who shared the same royal lifestyle and had nothing to do with the people or politics,” he recalled. Sukhbir further said that last but not the least, even people who had gathered at Amritsar on Friday to welcome Amarinder would not be seen again. “More than 80 per cent of the crowd had been hired on daily wages and consisted of outsiders and people who did not even have their vote in Amritsar,” he claimed. SAD chief also said that Amarinder was in the habit of conducting such fake shows. “He did it earlier when he was re-nominated as PPCC president in the run-up to the last Assembly elections. Like this time, then also he had hired a crowd to show the high command that the people of the state were with him. Even this time, he has done the same to prove his popularity before the party high command. ‘The Congress leadership may be fooled by such tactics but Amarinder has been thoroughly exposed before the people of Punjab and they will teach him an appropriate lesson in the forthcoming parliamentary elections,” he asserted.