Taking a dig at the opposition Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said it was a grouping of "corrupt dynasty" who were working to fulfil their selfish interests.
Addressing an election rally in Bihar's Bhagalpur district, Singh said the RJD's lantern, its election symbol, was running out of fuel and will soon go off.
"Both Congress and RJD deceived the people of the state in the name of development. Their alliance was basically a group of corrupt dynasts who were working to fulfil their selfish interests. I can say with full confidence that RJD's lantern is flickering. It is running out of fuel and it will soon go off," he said.
"The NDA government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi is working for the overall growth of the country, and trying to make India the world's third-largest economy by 2027. But RJD is trying to pull Bihar back to the days of the lantern. They talk about the Charwaha model! That will not happen at all. PM Modi wants to make India a fully developed country by 2047," he added.
Singh alleged that the only aim of the Mahagathbandhan leaders was to promote their family members.
"On the other side, PM Modi's only aim is to take forward the poor, backward and every other section of the society. They did nothing in the name of social justice, neither in the country nor in Bihar," he claimed.
Singh said the Modi government took several bold decisions in the last 10 years.
"The decisions taken by the Modi government were never thought of earlier. A grand Ram temple was constructed at the birthplace of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. We fulfilled Syama Prasad Mookerjee's dream by abrogating Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. We wanted to protect the rights of Muslim women and so, the triple talaq was scrapped. We do not work for the vote bank, instead, we work for the people of the country," he said.
"I salute the mothers of the Bihar Regiment's bravehearts who sacrificed their lives during a standoff with Chinese soldiers at the Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh. The soldiers of the Bihar Regiment not only made Bihar proud but also the entire country proud. I am confident that the people of Bihar are with PM Modi, and they will certainly ensure that the NDA gets all 40 seats in the state," he said.
Singh was addressing the rally in support of JD(U)'s Bhagalpur MP Ajay Kumar Mandal, who is seeking re-election as an NDA nominee.
Bhagalpur will go to the polls in the second phase on April 26.
