Making a jibe at Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that there is no other Chief Minister in the country who has been using more time taking counsel of lawyers to defend himself in corruption cases.
Modi, though, did not name Virbhadra Singh directly, but pointing towards the public in Shimla, he said that the people of Himachal Pradesh are intelligent enough to understand whom he was referring to.
Choosing to stay away from touching the issue of the Enforcement Directorate and CBI investigations against the Chief Minister, Modi, while addressing the public at Ridge here said that the winds from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand had been blowing towards Himachal Pradesh now, as the people had been voting for honesty across the country.
Modi said that he had lived in poverty and can sense the concerns of the poor. Taking pot shots at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the Prime Minister said that he did not need to take a tour to sense the troubles of poor and his Government has been making every effort to make the system more transparent and poor friendly.
Taking a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Modi said that the fresh air of the Bharatiya Janata Party had come from Delhi.
Stressing on the need to boost tourism in Himachal Pradesh, Modi said that in the tourism sector sky is the limit for the State to develop if the rail and air connectivity is improved. He said that the tourism sector can become a major source for employment generation in the state besides bringing economic prosperity in the State.
Indicating a ray of hope for the fruit growers in the State, Modi said that the Central Government had made the cold drink companies to add 5 per cent real fruit juice in the soft drinks in Nagpur and the same scheme would be implemented in Himachal Pradesh also.
Earlier, while addressing the gathering, former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had raised the issue of fruit growers saying that PM Modi had announced boosting fruit farming in the State and said that he was sure that PM would honour his promise to the people.
Announcing distribution of 5 crore gas connections to the poor in three years, Modi said that 1.5 crore gas connections had already been issued in the first 11 months after the launch of the scheme and the government will make it a point to achieve the target of allocating the rest 3.5 crore connections.