PM Modi rally, Priyanka Gandhi roadshows heat up Delhi

New Delhi: As Delhi goes to polls on Sunday (May 12), where seven Lok Sabha seats are up for grabs, the political climate heated up on Wednesday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a mega rally called Vijay Sankalp rally at the iconic Ramlila Maidan, and  Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held two massive back-to-back road shows in Northeast Delhi and South Delhi constituencies.

At Ramlila Maidan, Mr Modi was flanked by his party’s seven candidates, while in Ms Vadra’s roadshows she was accompanied by the state unit head and three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit in Northeast Delhi and by Olympian boxer Vijender Singh in his South Delhi constituency.

On the burning issues of  corruption and inflation, which several Opposition parties have made their poll plank, Mr Modi said, “We have closed an easy way to fight corruption by doing away with interviews in government jobs. GST has been designed in a way that people get rid of the inspector raj. Inflation, a major issue in earlier elections, is under control. Not even the Opposition can say a word on it.”

Appeasing different sections of the society, the PM said: “Delhi has the energy of Punjab and Haryana, the sweetness of the Poorvanchal, the enthusiasm of the North East, the gentleness of South India. I am fortunate to have been given the opportunity to serve.”

Thanking the people of Delhi, he added: “ I also want to apologise for something. After I became PM, there would always be huge security with me, due to which people have been inconvenienced. I am not fond of living behind a bullet-proof wall.”  

The PM claimed that pollution and traffic jams in Delhi have been reduced after the government built eastern and western peripherals.

In an apparent attack on AAP, Mr Modi said Delhi has seen “nakampanthi” model of governance. Explaining the term “nakampanthi”, he said it means “not allowing Centre’s Ayushmaan Bharat in Delhi hospitals”.

Mr Modi said people who claimed to come to change the country had changed themselves. “They supported the ‘tukde tukde’ gang and strengthened India’s enemies,” the Prime Minister said. He also attacked the Congress for being interested only in promoting dynasty and corruption.

Responding to the PM’s challenge daring the Congress to contest the final rounds of general elections on Rajiv Gandhi’s image, Ms Vadra said during her roadshow, “A Delhi girl is openly challenging you: Contest the last two phases on notebandi, GST, women’s safety and unfulfilled promises to the youth.”

Verbal sparring started between Mr Modi and Ms Vadra after the Prime Minister said at a rally on Saturday that Rajiv Gandhi’s life had ended as “Bhrashtachari No.1”. The comments on Priyanka and Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s father, a former Prime Minister assassinated in 1991 by a suicide bomber, were condemned by several Opposition parties.

Ms Vadra said that the Modi government has failed on all fronts, and none of the hollow promises it made to the people had been fulfilled.

She said that Mr Modi has been telling lies and trying to mislead the people, and India was now at a crossroads, for the first time after Independence, seeking a dynamic change.  She said that such a change can happen only if people elect a Congress government at the Centre.

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