Mirzapur: Reiterating his 2014 manifesto, Narendra Modi promised to double the income of farmers and rich-poor divide by 2022 on his second day tour of Uttar Pradesh.
“Our government visualises a new India that takes full care of the sick, the poor, the children, the youth and the farmers,” he said in Mirzapur, accusing Opposition parties of disregarding farmers when they governed Uttar Pradesh.
Taking a jibe at the Congress he said, “Those who are shedding crocodile tears for farmers today should be asked as to why they did not complete irrigation projects which were left incomplete throughout the nation during their tenure,” at a public rally after inaugurating the Bansagar canal project and laying the foundation for a medical college in Mirzapur.
“I have had the opportunity to dedicate many projects of development to the public in the past two days and introduce new schemes,” he said.
“Previous governments used to come up with incomplete projects and stall them. You are the people who suffered. Had this project (Bansagar) been completed beforehand, you would have been benefitted by it two decades ago”, added Modi
Mirzapur is a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ally, the Apna Dal (S), a party with influence over the OBC population.
In a speech at Azamgarh on Saturday, the PM accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of siding with Muslim men but not standing up for the rights of Muslim women.
Modi relaunches ‘Samajwadi Purvanchal Expressway’ in Azamgarh
The BJP aims to consolidate its support base in Uttar Pradesh, where it has seen a series of defeats at the hands of a united opposition. The candidate of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), centred in western Uttar Pradesh, won the Kairana Lok Sabha seat in May, with the support of the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The Kairana victory came two months after the BJP lost the Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls to the SP, which was backed by BSP.
