Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched an all-out attack on Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel after Baghel was named in the alleged Mahadev betting app scam.
Addressing an election rally in Durg, he said the Congress has never left any opportunity to loot the people of Chhattisgarh. “Congress party’s Chhattisgarh Government has left no opportunity to loot you. They did not even spare the name of Mahadev,” he said.
“Two days back, a big operation took place in Raipur. Huge cache of currency notes was found. People say that the money belongs to gamblers and bets. The Congress leaders are filling their houses with this loot money. You can see in media reports that to whom its links go back to,” Prime Minister Modi said.
He said the Congress needs to answer as to what links it has with people in Dubai who were accused in the scam. “State government and the CM should tell the people of Chhattisgarh what links they have with the people sitting in Dubai who are accused of this scam,” the PM asked.
“After the money was seized, the CM is baffled and is suddenly found in action. I have heard that local leaders are sending us a message that money will be planted on our leaders and police will be sent. Who are they trying to threaten. Nothing is hidden from public,” the PM said.
“The Congress is abusing me every day. The State Chief Minister is abusing even the country’s security forces and probe agencies. People have elected me to my office to catch the corrupt,” he said. He assured people that agencies would investigate all scams in the state.
“Action will indeed be taken against those who looted Chhattisgarh. Account for every penny will be taken from them. Chhattisgarh’s corrupt government has broken your trust with one scam after the other,” he said.
Mr Modi said counting every scam of the State Government would take time and he would name just a few.
“Liquor scam of Rs 2000 crore, cement scam of Rs 500 crore, rice scam of Rs 5,000 crore, Gauthan scam of Rs 1,300 crore, DMF scam of Rs 700 crore, Rs 500 crore scam of rice custom milling and Corona cess scam of several hundred crores of Rupees. Congress has not left any opportunity to loot Chhattisgarh,” he said.
“But I assure you that after the BJP government assumes office in the state, such scams will be strictly investigated and those who looted your money, will be sent to jail,” the PM said.
“PSC and Mahadev App scam are already in the news, there is no dearth of scams in the report card of the Congress government,” PM Modi said. He alleged that the priority of Congress is to distribute jobs to its leaders’ kin and to exclude the public from jobs.
“The Congress never gave anything to the poor except deception. The Congress never respects the poor. They never understand the pain and suffering of the poor. As long as the Congress remained in the central government, it kept on looting the money of the poor and kept making false promises” the PM said.
In his speech, the Prime Minister promised Chhattisgarh will get a new stature, if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is voted to power, saying the party has a track record of fulfilling promises. Mr Modi congratulated the state unit of BJP for releasing the manifesto on Friday.
“Chhattisgarh was formed by the BJP and I give you a guarantee that BJP will make Chhattisgarh prosperous. But Congress party’s ‘jhooth ka pulinda’ is standing before BJP’s ‘sankalp patra’. Congress party’s priority is to fill its coffers through corruption,” PM Modi said.
Mr Modi said the whole of Chhattisgarh is saying the BJP is coming to power. Chhattisgarh wants freedom from the “30 taka” Government, he said. “The BJP manifesto will make your dreams come true. In this Manifesto, our mothers, sisters of Chhattisgarh, the youth and the farmers here have been given the biggest priority. BJP’s track record is that we do what we say,” he said.
The Prime Minister said he had made the welfare of the poor top agenda of his Government. For Modi, he said the biggest caste is of the poor people. The Government generated trust in the poor that they can get out of poverty. The government policies have taken 13.50 crore out of poverty, he said.
Elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly will be held in two phases. The first phase of polling for 20 seats is on 7 November and the remaining 70 seats go to polling on 17 November. The counting of votes will be done on 3 December.