Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi addresses a meeting at the Lal Bahadur stadium in Hyderabad yesterday.
IANS/Hyderabad
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi yesterday flagged off the BJP’s campaign for 2014 elections with a call to rid the country of the Congress even as he sought to attract support from parties like the TDP (Telugu Desam Party) and AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam).
Addressing a mammoth public meeting, the first after he took over as chairman of Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign committee, Modi said development was the foundation of his vision of India.
Modi invoked Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder N T Rama Rao to woo the party for his efforts to form a non-Congress government at the centre. He said the TDP, which claims legacy of NTR, has the responsibility to fulfill his dream.
In an attempt to woo AIADMK, Modi also praised the J Jayalalithaa government in Tamil Nadu for its schemes. He accused the Congress of creating a wedge between the people of Telangana and Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and Andhra) regions of Andhra Pradesh.
He said despite promising a Telangana state in 2004, the Congress failed to build a capital for Seemandhra.
He hinted that this was the cause for the ongoing protests in Seemandhra over the decision to carve out a separate state.
Modi appealed to people of both the regions to live peacefully as brothers and not to get provoked despite the Congress ‘games’.
He accused the Congress of adopting a divide-and-rule policy.
Eminent personalities of the Telugu film industry and people from various walks of life called on Modi, who also addressed a meeting of office-bearers of BJP’s Andhra Pradesh unit before winding up his day-long visit.
Modi ended his 45-minute-long address at the public meeting by repeating Barack Obama’s famous words ‘Yes we can’. He asked the audience to repeat with him “Yes we can. Yes we will do”.
Thousands of people, mostly youth, attended the meeting at L B Stadium. It was the first of 100 such meetings planned by BJP in the run-up to the polls.
The Gujarat chief minister said the path of development alone can change India’s destiny.
“The solution to all our problem lies in development and in the welfare of all sections of people but Congress is not ready to tread on this path,” he said.
Modi slammed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for what he called its all-round failure, corruption and vote bank politics. Modi said last week’s incidents shocked the country and people lost faith in the UPA government.