Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi continued his campaign across Maharashtra on Sunday 5th October 2014. He addressed massive public meetings in Tasgaon (Sangli district), Kolhapur. He continued his strong pitch to the voters to elect a BJP government will a full majority in the state. “BJP is ready to take responsibility for the development of Maharashtra. Give BJP a complete majority. We want to work for the farmers, for the villages and the youth. Industry and jobs are also needed,” he avowed.
Addressing a rally in Gondia, the Prime Minister asked if the people want the condition of Vidarbha to remain like this. He criticised the Congress-NCP for their corruption and reminded the people that there is no difference between the two parties. Stressing on the issue of political stability, the Prime Minister asked the people to compare the development in MP and Chhattisgarh with the lack of development in Maharashtra and he attributed this to the political stability in the two states as opposed to the political situation in Maharashtra.
The Prime Minister paid rich tributes to Chhatrapati Shivaji and took on those leaders who misusing the name of the great Shivaji Maharaj for selfish purposes. Referring to former Union Minister Shri Sharad Pawar, Shri Modi pointed that Shri Pawar lacks any quality of Chhatrapati Shivaji and reminded him that despite being Maharashtra CM he could neither rename the Mumbai airport nor the Victoria Terminus after Chhatrapati Shivaji. Reminding the former agriculture minister of his dismal tenure as central minister Shri Modi said that had Shri Pawar implemented Chhatrapati Shivaji’s water management techniques, so many farmers would not have committed suicide. He even asked these leaders not to question their Shiv Bhakti and recalled his visit to Raigad just before the elections.
Sharpening his criticism of Shri Pawar as minister and the performance of the Congress-NCP in Maharashtra Shri Modi stated, “These are the same people who looted from Kargil widows. They took from the poor and threw water on the hopes of the people of Maharashtra. A Congress government in Delhi stalled Narmada project for years and this was a Government that Sharad Rao was part of.” He even questioned why so many farmers in Maharashtra committed suicide despite the agriculture minister belonging to the State.
Shri Modi made it very clear that there is no question of criticizing the Shiv Sena, out of respect for Pujya Balasaheb Thackeray. “Some newspapers have published that Modi criticized Shiv Sena in his speeches. These are the first polls in the absence of Pujya Balasaheb Thackeray. He was the man who stood for the rights of the people,” said the Prime Minister.
PM in Mumbai 4th October 2014
At the Sangli rally, the Prime Minister thanked the people of Sangli for creating history by voting for BJP for the first time in a Lok Sabha election. He pointed, “We never won Sangli Lok Sabha seat since Independence. I had urged people to vote for BJP and you all gave a lot more than what I asked for.”
In Kolhapur the Prime Minister gave a befitting reply to the statements by Congress leaders saying that he took away Mahatma Gandhi from them. He declared that the Congress had long abandoned the path of Mahatma Gandhi but they only wanted the notes of money with Mahatma Gandhi’s faces on them. Shri Modi also stated that the BJP will leave no stone unturned in working for Maharashtra and will not run away like the Congress did.
