Gujarat Congress on Saturday dared chief minister Narendra Modi to contest the assembly polls on local issues and give answers on failures of his government and irregularities in huge tracts of lands given away to some industries at throw away rates.
State Congress president Arjun
Modhvadia questioned Modi's silence on local issues highlighted by the opposition party.
"Modi's government is based on utter lies and therefore he is silent on the corruption allegations his government is facing," he said.
"In last 10 years in Gujarat under Modi rule, big industrial groups like Tata Motors, Adani, Essar, Raheja, DLF, Bharat Hotels and many others got huge tracts of lands at subsidised rates. No auction was ever held while giving away lands. Why is the chief minster silent on the issue?" Modhvadia asked, alleging "large scale irregularities by the Modi government in allotting land parcels.
"If chief administer has any shame, he must come forward and offer his clarification on these land deals, which smack of corruption,"
He claimed, asking clarification from the Modi administration.
As the Gujarat assembly polls nearing, both ruling and opposition parties have intensified leveling allegations and counter allegations against each other.
The opposition party has focused on state specific issues, highlighting the local issues and failures of the Modi administration while chief minister has focused his efforts on attacking the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the UPA government and its alleged scandals.
"In 2002, Modi had fought elections attacking Pakistan's General Parvez Musharraf. Now he wants to contest polls on the issue of CBI, which is probing fake encounter cases. He never speaks on local issues and his failures," the opposition party president said.
According to him, just two months before the assembly polls were announced, Gujarat BJP "extorted" Rs. 560 crore in the name of "wealth collection drive."
"I have specific details that small businessmen and entrepreneurs were harassed by the state authorities to contribute in the state BJP's wealth collection drive. It was nothing but open extortion by the ruling dispensation, misusing the state machinery," he alleged.