PM Modi lauds Smriti Irani’s work for Amethi in jibe at sitting MP Rahul Gandhi

Hours after he launched a stinging attack at the opposition parties at a rally in Bihar’s Patna, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack at the Congress in Rahul Gandhi’s own constituency Amethi.

Hours after he launched a stinging attack at the opposition parties at a rally in Bihar’s Patna, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack at the Congress in Rahul Gandhi’s own constituency Amethi. The Congress chief won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections defeated BJP’s candidate Smriti Irani.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses his supporters during ‘Sankalp Rally’, at Gandhi Maidan, in Patna, India, on Sunday, March 3, 2019.(Photo: A P Dube/Hindustan Times)

Dedicating projects worth nearly Rs 600 crore, the PM said, “Amethi is the perfect example of sabka saath, sabka vikas. Those who voted for us and those who didn’t, they are all our people. Smriti Irani was your candidate. Though we could not win, but we won your hearts. In five years, Smriti Irani has done so much for the development of this region. She did more work that the candidate who won the 2014 elections.”

“This ordnance factory is proof how the requirements of our security forces were ignored,” PM Modi said.

Modi said, “When your MP laid the foundation stone for the ordnance factory at Korwa in 2007, he said work will begin here from 2010. Nothing happened. Why trust someone who cannot keep his word?”

He claimed that the previous government at the Centre could not decide which ordnance to manufacture at the factory in Korwa. “They did not even allocate land for it. The building was finally built in 2013, ahead of the 2014 elections and some work begun. But they still did not manufacture modern rifles here,” the PM said.

Criticising the Congress he said, “They had promised to give jobs to 1,500 people at the factory, but they didn’t keep their promise. They gave jobs to only 200 people and now they are raising questions about employment.”

Amid chants of “Rahul Gandhi chor hai”, PM Modi said, “I am not naming anyone, but you know who I am talking about.”

Referring to the armed forces requirements for bullet proof jackets and modern equipment, the PM said, that the previous government had ignored those requirements.

“In 2009, the army had asked for 1,86,000 bullet proof jackets. Our soldiers faced terrorists without those jackets. From 2009 to 2014, the previous government did not buy those jackets. It is our government that placed an order for more than 2,30,000 bullet proof jackets. Who were these people who did not think of the soldiers, of the country’s security?,” Modi said.

Modi went on to raise the issue of the Rafale fighter jets. “Our IAF had been asking for fighter jets. The previous government did not do anything, instead they sat on the Rafale deal for years and then put the deal on the backburner. Now, they want the deal to fail for their vested interests. They are upset because they are not getting any commission from a defence deal and it is visible on their faces,” he said.