Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah yesterday said the people of the country have decided to make Narendra Modi the prime minister again.
Addressing a meeting on the last day of the Lok Sabha election campaign in Hyderabad, Shah said during the last five years the Modi government enhanced the country’s stature and its biggest achievement was making the country safe and secure.
“There are two camps. One camp is of patriots of BJP led by Narendra Modi and NDA allies and the other camp is led by Rahul Baba and gathbandhan,” he said, referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and the opposition alliance.
The BJP chief also referred to efforts being made by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to form a Federal Front. “You tell me can KCR in any way become the prime minister,” he asked.
Shah said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), like the Congress, was a party of family rule and claimed that only the BJP can work for the country’s development and make it strong.
He claimed that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government provided Rs2.45 lakh crore to Telangana in five years against Rs16,500 crore given during 10 years of Congress rule.
Shah said the manifesto released by the BJP was nothing but a document to make India a superpower. “Can the tukda tukda gang give a stable and strong government? Only BJP can do it.”
The reference was to the alleged comments by some activists to divide the country.
The BJP president said the entire country was happy when India launched air strikes on Pakistan to destroy suspected militant camps.
Meanwhile, Modi yesterday made a passionate appeal to the millennial generation exhorting them to select the nation above everything else while exercising their first-ever vote in the 2019 elections.
Addressing a rally at Ausa in Latur in Maharashtra, Modi said that this generation, born in the 21st century, has got a lot from their families, people and the country as they stepped into adulthood.
“This is the opportunity to repay it... I ask you, will you ensure that your first vote will be for the Pulwama martyrs, for the poor to get homes, water or the farmers and health for all countrymen?
“You must only vote for the country and for a strong government,” Modi said.
He said that every vote that is cast for the BJP would “come directly to me...” and asked the millennial to now vote only in favour of national interest.
Sharing the dais for the first time in 28 months with ally Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, Modi said he would not let the aspirations of the people in backward Marathwada region go in vain and would take up developmental activities and ensure their faith is not belied.
After harsh criticism of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and its president Sharad Pawar in the past few rallies, Modi yesterday warned the Maratha supremo of the consequences of allying with the Congress.
“The manifesto of the Congress and its allies are anti-national... For decades, they have pushed the nation into insecurity and nobody has any expectation from the Congress... But you, Sharadrao, you? Does it suit a person of your stature to ally with such people?”