HIMMATNAGAR/ SURENDRANAGAR: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Wednesday warned the people of Gujarat that they should be prepared for a
witch-hunt
if they chose to elect a government other than BJP’s.
In a throwback to the 2012 assembly election when Modi accused the UPA government at the Centre of doing gross injustice to Gujarat, the PM said an attempt had been made to dislodge his government while he was the CM. “Between 2004 and 2014, the remote control government damaged Gujarat and treated it as if it were not a part of India,” he said, referring to the two
Manmohan Singh regimes. “Using false cases, they pushed police officers and (BJP chief)
Amit Shah into jail. Can they be given this opportunity again?” he told a large gathering in Himmatnagar town of
Sabarkantha district
.
Modi was referring to the arrest of Shah, then Gujarat home minister, and four senior police officers in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case. Shah was arrested in 2010 and the arrests of the cops began in 2007. All have been either discharged or acquitted.
“Even if you mistakenly vote for them (Congress), your fingers will burn till evening,” Modi said. “If you press the button for them, they will destroy everything and Gujarat is first on the target.”
In Surendranagar, Modi told the crowd: “We set a record in 2014 by winning all 26 Lok Sabha seats from Gujarat. The challenge this time is to ensure that a maximum number of opposition candidates lose their deposits.”
With April 23 polling in Gujarat just a few days away, campaigning has attained feverish pitch in the state. While Modi is on a two-day whirlwind tour of north and central Gujarat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will campaign in Saurashtra-Kutch and south Gujarat region on Thursday.
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Himanshu Kaushik is Senior Assistant Editor at The Times of India...
Read MoreHimanshu Kaushik is Senior Assistant Editor at The Times of India, Ahmedabad. He reports on Wildlife and state government. He takes special interest in reporting on wildlife, especially the lions of Gir. His likes listening to music.
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