Modi attacks central government's policy paralysis

The BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Monday slammed the central government's "policy paralysis", which he said has affected the economy adversely.

Addressing a rally at Khetri in Jhunjhunu district, over 160 km from Jaipur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that factories are closing down because of policy paralysis. "The government in Delhi has not been able to save the rupee from declining. The copper industry which provides livelihood to over 10,000 people is in shambles," he said.

Khetri is known for its Hindustan Copper ltd. factory. "Atal Bihari Vajyapee conducted nuclear tests. When we tested, the world was shocked and sanctions were imposed. Despite all this, Atalji did not let value of the rupee fall. The economy was strong. But see what is happening today under economist PM... now rupee is in ICU," he said.

Modi, the Gujarat chief minister, sought to know on what basis was the Congress asking for votes.  "Has the party done something good for the people of Rajasthan... Both Supreme Court and high court had said that if you cannot run the government, then leave it. They had said 'Aap ko raaj karna nahin aata...aap ko kaam karna nahin aata....(you do not know how to rule or how to work)... Still they (the Congress) are seeking vote," he said.

Modi claimed even the "shehzada", as he refers to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, does not have faith in the Ashok Gehlot-headed government.  "When riots happened in Bharatpur, he (Gandhi) visited the town without informing the state government. If he trusted his government, why did he come to visit the town without telling anyone, without telling the CM (chief minister)IJ" he asked.

"Gujarat and Rajasthan are almost the same...you also have desert...rains are scanty...but to provide clean drinking water to 900 villages and to troops in border areas, we spent crores and laid a pipeline which is so big that Ashok Gehlot and his family, sitting in Maruti car, can drive in the pipeline... all this work happened in last six years," he said.

Modi stressed that for development, focus must be on agriculture and manufacturing. "Third is service sector. All must grow equally," he said, charging the Gehlot government with doing nothing for these sectors.

"Rajasthan's growth was nine percent at the time of (BJP chief minister) Vasundhara Raje and now it is below five percent, agriculture development growth was 4 percent at the time of Raje...now it is 2.5 percent," he said.