LUCKNOW, Feb 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being targeted as he comes from a poor family, Union minister Uma Bharti said today and lashed out at the political rivals for accusing him of being “intolerant”.
“Congress has been affected by a feudal mindset for a long time. Similar thought process has now gripped Samajawadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav. The Left, which was banking on the support of the poor, are also dejected as the masses have embraced Modi and his policies,” she said at a press conference here.
The Union Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister exuded confidence that voters would give a befitting reply to these political parties.
She said there was a wave in favour of BJP and it showed that the paty was growing bigger and stronger than the one seen in 1991 UP assembly election.
“If Akhilesh had gone it alone in the current assembly elections, he would have definitely emerged as a strong number two party,” she claimed.
On Rahul Gandhi, the Union minister was of the view that the “Congress vice president does something or the other on his own (intentionally or inadvertently) that his ‘non-seriousness’ becomes evident.”
Bharti went on to claim that out of 105 of the 403 Assembly seats, which Congress is contesting as an ally of SP, 80 would to go BJP’s kitty.
To a question on the SP family feud, the senior BJP leader said it was a “classic case of who had the bigger share of the booty”.
On the row over Modi’s “graveyard, cremation ground” remark, the Union Minister said, “I fully endorse the statement of Modi. There is no problem taking welfare steps for the minority community, but it should not be at the cost of the majority. Else, this would amount to minoritism.”
On Mayawati’s announcement that a separate Bundelkhand would be carved out if BSP was voted to power, Bharti said, “Mayawati seems to have made an unmindful declaration.”
The Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh does not want a separate state as development has reached there. However, the same is not the case with Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand, where funds have been siphoned off, the Union Minister said.
“Does she (Mayawati) know the map of Bundelkhand? Three years after BJP comes to power in UP, the region would surge ahead of its contiguous areas in Madhya Pradesh,” she asserted.
Bundelkhand is spread across seven districts of Uttar Pradesh and six districts of Madhya Pradesh.
Bharti said BJP has always been in favour of smaller states, adding that Bundelkhand Vikas Board would be formed within a week of the formation of the BJP government in the state.
She also mentioned that an MoU had been signed with Israel for parched areas of Bundelkhand, Marathwada and Odisha. Asked to comment on RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s statement on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s health, she said, “This is simply laughable. Lalu should go and meet family members of Atalji to get a clear picture.”
The RJD chief had yesterday alleged that Vajpayee had been put on intoxication and sidelined from politics.
The Union Minister also claimed that if the Centre’s Ganga rejuvenation programme was not completed within stipulated time, she would undertake a foot march from Gangotri to Gangasagar. “I would not hesitate to lay down my life for Ganga, and gift a ‘Nirmal Ganga, Aviral Ganga’ (Pure Ganga, free flowing Ganga) to the PM,” she said. (PTI)
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