Addressing an election rally at Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that he would continue to punish them most stringently as he was not scared of the threats from those who filled their coffers with public money.

He said he bows down only in front of the janata janaardan (pubic) and Lord Mahakal.

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Mr Modi campaigned for BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Balaghat, Bharti Pardhi, a sitting BJP corporator on Tuesday, on his second visit to tribal dominated Mahakaushal region of MP in two days.

The PM launched his Lok Sabha campaign in MP on 7 April with a mega roadshow in Jabalpur city, which also comes in the Mahakaushal region. Jabalpur, Balaghat, Mandla, Chhindwara, Sidhi, and Shahdol are the six out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats of MP that go to the polls in the first phase on 19 April.

Addressing a huge public gathering today afternoon Narendra Modi castigated the grand old party, saying, “The Congress and the INDI Alliance do not want to defeat Modi, but they want to defeat progress and development of the country.”

“The Congress stuck in an old mindset and in its 70-year rule, did nothing for the country’s development,” he alleged, and added that the Congress today is not fighting against the BJP but with itself. Its leaders are against each other.

“Mera Bharat hi mera parivar hai,” the PM asserted, claiming that the BJP had spent enormous sums of money for the development of the country and the welfare of the poor while no other government had done so in the past. The party had given the rights of forest, land, and water to the tribals by giving them pattas on forest land.

The PM listed several progressive schemes and development projects being undertaken in MP and across the country and accused Congress of denying such rights to the tribals. He called the rival party arrogant, as it thinks it got freedom for the country.

“A family and a small coterie in the Congress dominated all along and their backward thinking took the country behind in all aspects,” the PM charged.

Mr Modi asserted that he is a devotee of Lord Mahakal, and that has given him the strength to bear all the abuses hurled by the opposition at him. He stated he was not scared of any threats from such people.

The PM declared that the people of the country would celebrate Diwali early, as the 2024 Lok Sabha polls are for giving new energy to the progress and development of the country.

The people greeted the PM with slogans like ‘phir ek baar, Modi sarkaar’ and ‘abki baar, 400 paar’.