Ahmedabad: Invoking “Gujarati pride” on his home turf, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday appealed to voters to elect their “own man” and claimed that Gujarat would be the Congress's first target if the party came to power at the Centre.
Modi arrived in the state for a two-day campaign tour just a week before voting in Gujarat.
“If the Congress is voted to power at the Centre, they will first target (victimise) Gujarat. When the first Gujarati Prime Minister Morarji Desai revolted against Indira Gandhi and became the Prime Minister, they did not allow him to work and removed Desai within two years,” Modi said at a public rally in Sabarkantha district’s Himmatnagar.
“Do not vote for the Congress, even by mistake,” he warned voters.
Modi claimed that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had wrongly framed BJP chief Amit Shah and jailed him. “Between 2004 and 2014, there was a remote-controlled government at the Centre and they had behaved with Gujarat as if it was not a part of India,” Modi said.
After Himmatnagar, Modi will address rallies in Surendranagar and Vallabh Vidhyanagar (in Anand constituency) later on Wednesday. Modi on Thursday will address a rally in Amreli Lok Sabha constituency.
A day before the PM's visit, gusty winds and a hailstorm had hit parts of Gujarat, including Himmatnagar.
Addressing the crowd in Gujarati, Modi expressed condolences for those who were killed in the unseasonal rains and added that he has instructed officers to ensure all help to affected people across the country.
“I appeal to states and all political parties to care for people who have been affected by stormy weather,” he said.
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