Congress tradition of vote-bank politics fading: PM Modi

Press Trust of India  |  Indore 

Modi today hit out at the Congress, alleging that the opposition party's policy of votebank politics, by way of welfare schemes, was fading.

He said the number of houses sanctioned under the NDA government was three times more than sanctioned during the UPA rule and in the next couple of years, another two crore would be built.

"The Congress's votebank by way of different welfare schemes is fading," he claimed.

"Everyone knows that during the Congress' time, the names of housing projects, their construction and the quality of construction were shrouded in controversies," he alleged.

He said the urban population kept rising but no attention was paid to amenities by the previous regimes.

"A huge amount of Rs 2.30 lakh crore was allocated for in the last four years whereas merely Rs 95,000 crore was spent for this during the UPA regime," he claimed, adding that the people knew better how much of the money was actually spent.

Modi said a sum of Rs 20,000 crore would be invested in seven proposed smart cities in

He said 8.30 crore toilets were constructed in the last four years, and 65 lakh of these were in this state.

On the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, he expressed hope the country would achieve cleanliness targets by Gandhi Jayanti next year.

He added that the Awas Yojana was generating employment for women and empowering them.

Earlier, Modi launched various urban schemes, worth Rs 4713.75 crore, through "e-dedication".

This included the PM Awas Yojna, Amrut Scheme, Public Transport Service, Smart City Scheme, Urban Drinking Water Scheme, Solid Waste Management Scheme, Multi-Level Parking, and Sewage and Road development.

He launched these schemes in Indore, Bhopal, Bhind, Sehore, Chhattarpur, Shahdol, Chhindwara, Burhanpur, Katni, Jabalpur, Ujjain, Ratlam, Hoshangabad, Singrauli, and districts.

The PM also distributed the Swachh Survekshan 2018 awards in which claimed first position as the country's cleanest city with and taking second and third position.

"Cleanliness cannot be achieved in a day. People remained alert for 24 hours to achieve this target," he said, congratulating residents.

Representatives of Vijaywada, Mysore, Greater Mumbai, (NDMC) and were also presented awards by the PM under different categories of Swachh Surveskshan 2018.

The award for the best performing state was given to while and bagged second and third place.

"For changing the country and society, you need to change people's mindset. The dream of an open defecation free is being realised now," he said.

He targeted the and said people should ask their elders about the condition of when that party was in power.

The state is slated for Assembly polls later this year and the BJP government, in power for three terms, is facing a formidable challenge from the

The also viewed an exhibition based on developmental schemes on the occasion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sat, June 23 2018. 21:15 IST