Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday blamed previous governments, and particularly Congress president Sonia Gandhi, for not fulfilling the promise of electrifying all households by 2009.

The PM was interacting with the beneficiaries of the Rs 16,320-crore Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saughagya) on Thursday where he said, “In 2005, the then government promised to electrify every village by 2009. Then president (Sonia Gandhi) of the ruling party (Congress) went a step ahead and said ‘we will bring electricity to every home’. Needless to say, none of that happened during their long tenure. That did not happen even in 2009, 2010 or 2011,” he added.

PM Modi said the promises made by previous governments were not fulfilled because there was no serious leader, adding that now they (opposition) were now finding faults with schemes and programmes being implemented by the BJP government.

He said all villages in India were electrified by April 28, 2018, making it “a historic date”, adding that it was pity that after 70 years of independence, people didn’t have access to electricity.

PM Modi claimed that officials working on electrification projects under his government reached every village, remotest of areas to fulfil his promise to the nation.

“From the ramparts of Red Fort, I announced every village will be electrified. We walked the talk and went to every village. We not only focussed on electrification but also reformed the distribution systems across the country,” Modi said addressing the residents of newly electrified villages via the NaMo App.

“Most of the villages were in remote, hilly areas, and in areas with poor connectivity. It was not easy to reach there but a dedicated team of people did it,” he said.

The Saubhagya scheme was launched last year in September under which about 3.6 crore unelectrified households would be electrified by March 31, 2019. However, the government is aiming to energise all these families by December 31, 2018, under Saubhagya.

Earlier this month, power ministers of all states and union territories were unanimous on electrifying all households in the country by December 31, 2018, during the Power Ministers Conference in Shimla.

In April, Modi announced that the Rs 76,000 crore Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) project was completed with the electrification of around 18,000 villages.

(With inputs from agencies)