Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday resorted to puns even as he hit out at the Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu at a public meeting in Kurnool.

Alleging that the Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who he referred to throughout as “U-Turn Babu”, was only promoting his son and family and was not worried about the state, he said he wanted to see the sunrise of Andhra Pradesh.

“The Centre’s schemes have given the youth of Andhra Pradesh employment and have promised a golden future. One day Andhra Pradesh’s sunrise will take place and corruptions son-set will take place. We all want Andhra’s sunrise to take place. For this, should son-set take place or not,” PM Modi said.

He said he wanted to do a lot for Andhra Pradesh, but was hindered by the state government.

“I tried a lot. But those who are running the state government did not have the intention to see Andhra Pradesh’s development,” he said.

Calling on the people to vote for the BJP, he said this would ensure the state’s development.

“Your vote will ensure the double-engined development of the state. Double engine meaning BJP government at Centre and in the state also,” he said.

“In Andhra Pradesh, they say there are no scams in government schemes. Instead, new schemes are launched for scams only. From a new capital to the many different schemes the state has launched, the people of Andhra Pradesh know whose pockets are being lined,” PM Modi said.

He said that when he questioned the state CM Chandrababu Naidu, he broke away from the NDA.

“When your chowkidar raised questions, the U-Turn Babu took another U-turn from Andhra’s development and broke away from the NDA. And now, the U-Turn Babu has found new friends who move on “bail-gadi”, those who are out on bail. Now he’s on such a track that Pakistan looks at him as its hero,” PM Modi said.

Accusing the chief minister of lying, PM Modi said that he was doing this only to slake his own ego.

“To satisfy his own ego and to hide his inabilities, the people running the government in the state are telling all kinds of lies. The U-Turn Babu is an expert in telling lies and is also an expert in claiming Centre’s schemes as his own. That is why people call him ‘sticker babu’,” PM Modi said.

Giving an example he said that when the Centre launched the PM-Kisan Yojana, under which Rs 75,000 crore is distributed among farmers, including 82 lakh farmers in Andhra Pradesh, he said, “The U-Turn Babu has put his own sticker on it and has claimed it as his own.”

“For decades, the TDP and Congress have ruled Andhra for decades. The U-Turn Babu has been the chief minister for a long time. The blessings of Tungbhadra and Krishna have been on the land, but the farmers are thirsty, the reason behind this is their bad intent,” he said.

First Published: Mar 29, 2019 17:56 IST