Bhubaneswar, June 23 Taking a swipe at the Opposition's meeting in Patna, BJP national President J. P. Nadda on Friday said that leaders like Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, who were jailed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during Emergency, are welcoming her grandson Rahul Gandhi.
"The opposition parties' meeting in Patna today only shows their desperation to defeat the BJP. The leaders who once fought tooth and nail with the Congress are now welcoming them to their doorsteps in an attempt to gain power," Nadda said, while addressing a public meeting at Bhawanipatna in Odisha's Kalahandi district.
"I was surprised as all Opposition leaders are embracing each other, welcoming each other and meeting in Patna on June 23," he said.
Nadda said RJD national president Lalu Prasad and and Bihar jd(U) president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were sent to jail for 22 months by Indira Gandhi and now they are welcoming her grandson.
The BJP President said: "I have heard that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray reached Patna to attend the opposition meeting. Uddhav's father and 'Hindu Hriday Samrat' Balasaheb Thackeray was a strong opponent of Congress. Balasaheb had once said that he would rather choose to close his shop (referring to the party) rather than joining the Congress."
"Now, Bala Sahab Thackeray must be deriding himself that no one else, but his son has closed his shop," he said.
Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nadda said Prime Minister Modi has given the country a new political culture, that is politics of development. Modi has rescued the country from dynastic and vote-bank politics and put it on path of development.
"The Modi government believes in report card politics, not vote bank politics. We have delivered what we had promised, we will surely deliver what we are promising now... We will also deliver what we never promised," Nadda assured people.
During the last nine years of the Modi government, Rs 18 lakh crore were spent on development of public infrastructure like highways, airway, railway, among others. This year alone, Rs 1 lakh crore is being utilised for development of such infrastructure, he pointed out.
Coming down heavily on Congress for targeting Prime Minister Modi, the BJP leader said, "When world leaders are praising Modi, Congress is misleading people by raking up the issue of inflation and poverty and calling him illiterate, chai wala."
"Congress persons are completely illiterate today. Country's poverty level now is below 10 per cent. Despite Covid-19 and Ukraine-Russia war, India's growth rate stand at 8.7 per cent," Nadda said.
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