Medak (Telangana) [India]: Launching a scathing attack on the ruling BRS government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday the people of Telangana are marching ahead with a pledge to form a BJP government for the first time in the southern state.
“The people of Telangana are marching ahead with a pledge to form a BJP government for the first time in the state,” PM Modi said.
“Now the time has come for lotus, the party symbol, to be in full bloom in the state. The pledge of development in Telangana will only be fulfilled by the BJP,” PM Modi said to loud cheers and applause from the crowd.
He started his speech in Telugu, aiming to connect with a wider audience.
PM Modi made the remarks while addressing a public meeting in the Medak district of Telangana.
The state will go to polls in a single phase on November 30. The counting of votes has been scheduled for December 3.
Lashing out at the BRS government, headed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, PM Modi said, “Telangana CM considers the state to be his personal fiefdom. Why did KCR feel the need to fight from two seats?”
Telangana CM is contesting from the Gadgel and Kamareeddy constituencies in the November 30 Assembly elections.
During his address, PM Modi invoked the 15th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
“The 26/11 attacks remind us how much damage a weak and indecisive government could inflict on the nation,” PM Modi said, in a veiled dig at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which was in power at the time of the 26/11 attacks.
PM Modi reminded the crowd how they unseated a ‘weak’ Congress government at the Centre in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and voted the BJP to power.
“It was because of a change of guard at the Centre, which was made possible through your votes, that terrorism came to be crushed and defeated in the country,” PM Modi said.
The state is poised for a three-cornered contest between the ruling BRS, which is bidding to return to the hustings for a third straight term, the Congress, and a resurgent BJP.
In the last Assembly elections in 2018, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), previously known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share.
The Congress came in a distant second with just 19 seats while the BJP drew a blank.
