Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda said that no government had done as much as the Narendra Modi government at the Centre had done for farmers, adding that during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, the budget for agriculture sector was only Rs 1.21 lakh crore which had been doubled by the Modi government to Rs 2.11 lakh crore.
Nadda arrived in the state capital on Saturday on a two-day visit to chair a series of organisational meetings. Nadda addressed the block pramukhs and district panchayat chairmen’s conference in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In his speech, Nadda highlighted how Uttar Pradesh had transformed under the Yogi government. He also encouraged the district panchayat chairmen and block chiefs to understand the ground situation of the citizens of the state and work accordingly.
The BJP chief said, "This should be your responsibility to ensure the construction of toilets in every block. It is your duty to find people in your areas who are still lacking LPG gas and electricity connections.”
He added, "Today UP stands at number 2 in Ease of Doing Business ranking. The per capita income has doubled. The state is becoming a leading destination for investments under the Yogi Adityanath government and UP is the first state to implement a one nation one ration card scheme."
"Earlier the condition of the country was such that once Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had said that the Centre sends Re 1, out of which 85 paise remain in the middle and only 15 paise reach the intended beneficiary. And today we can say with great pride that if one rupee is sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then the entire 100 paise goes down to the poor people. That is why it is the responsibility of our public representatives to ensure that the 100 paise are fully invested in the work of development,” he said."
Asking the elected panchayat representatives to be proactive, Nadda said, "The leader should set the agenda by understanding the people's point of view and move forward with that agenda. That is why I want to request all of you that you should become politically active. Debate, ask questions and tell how much was spent on agriculture in the UPA government and how much is Modiji spending now. Today, the Modi government is spending twice as much as it has spent."
Praising Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Nadda said that today UP was progressing rapidly under the leadership of Yogi. “For decades, there were many villages without electricity, today under the leadership of Modi and Yogi in the state; people have seen better days. Earlier there was a picture of India that women used to feed her family by burning her lungs in smoke, but Modi has worked to change the lives of women with the Ujjwala scheme. Modi's resolve is that no one should be deprived of a pucca roof. You all try to go from house to house to fulfill his resolve,” he said.
After his address, Nadda met with party MPs, MLAs and MLCs. Union ministers and BJP state office-bearers from Uttar Pradesh also attended the gathering. Nadda also met the ministers of the Yogi Adityanath cabinet at the state office of the BJP.
During his visit, the BJP president also met a group of Corona Warriors and took stock of efforts to combat the COVID-19 outbreak in UP. About a week ago, the BJP president had presided over a gathering of the party’s MPs from Uttar Pradesh that was attended by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Earlier, Nadda was given a warm welcome at the CCS International Airport in Lucknow on his arrival from New Delhi. He will attend a couple of more meetings on Saturday and Sunday before leaving for Agra on Sunday afternoon.