Home minister Rajnath Singh, addressing his first election meeting in Purnia on Wednesday said that the country was in safe hands and India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was developing on all fronts. Singh was addressing the meeting to endorse JD(U) candidate Santosh Kumar. Purnia will vote on April 18, during the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

Taking a dig at Congress Singh said, “All Congress Prime Ministers from Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi had given the slogan of‘garibi hatao’ but they all failed and Rahul Gandhi will meet the same fate.”

Praising central government schemes such as the Ujjwala Yojana and Ayushman Bharat, Singh said that all these schemes were meant to fight poverty and the government has executed them successfully. He assured that under a re-elected NDA government, everyone will get a pucca house by 2022, adding that in the last five years, over 1 crore houses were built under the PM Awas scheme.

“By opening bank accounts for over 34 crore people, we have eliminated middlemen and now the beneficiaries are getting money directly.”

The home minister also said that alliances were BJP’s commitment and not compulsion and developmental work was being done collectively. Praising Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, the home minister said that PM Modi and CM Nitish Kumar were spotless, without any corruption charges against them.

Singh also touched upon the Pulwama attack and India’s response to it. “We do not attack anybody, but if we are attacked then we do not spare anybody either.”

He asserted that India would be among the most powerful countries in the world by 2028-30.

BJP is contesting only the Araria seat in Seemanchal and out of six Lok Sabha seats in the region. Purnia, Katihar, Kishanganj, Madhepura and Supaul seats are being contested by JD(U). Purnia, Katihar and Kishanganj go to polls on April 18 while Araria, Madhepura and Supaul will go to polls on April 23.

First Published: Apr 11, 2019 08:50 IST