As the first phase of voting in 20 assembly constituencies is underway, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday addressed a rally in poll bound Chhattisgarh’s Bishrampur which will go to polls in the second phase on November 17.
During the rally, Prime Minister Modi said that Chhattisgarh was carved under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP government and that is why people are saying the state will be developed by the saffron party.
Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000 by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
“This is why the entire Chhattisgarh is now saying, ‘BJP ne banaya hai, BJP hi sawaregi‘ (BJP carved it, BJP will develop it too),” PM Modi said amid loud cheers of public.
During his address, the prime minister also pitched for education in regional languages and asked, “Engineer banne ke lie angrezi zaroori hai kya (Is English necessary to become an engineer)?”
Modi also lambasted the Congress party for failing to remove poverty despite promising it for five decades.
Voting is being held in Chhatisgarh’s naxal affected constituencies on Tuesday. The state will vote in two phases with the second phase of voting scheduled to be held on November 17.
There is a direct contest with the Congress and the BJP in the state which was ruled by the BJP for three consecutive terms until Congress party ended its 15 years of rule in 2018 when Bhupesh Baghel became the chief minister.
The BJP is hoping to regain the state it lost to Congress in the last assembly elections, while the ruling party is confident of repeating its government.