Covering adjoining States of Odisha and Chhattisgarh ahead of the second phase of voting for the Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused the Congress of emboldening Maoists. Referring to the recent killing of BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi, Mr. Modi asked voters in Chhattisgarh to choose between landmines and development.

At a meeting in the coal town of Korba, he said, “It is questionable that the incident happened in a region where extremism was on the wane. The Congress, as before the Assembly election in 2018, considers Maoists revolutionaries and is conspiring with them to push back the State into a cycle of violence.”

Voting for the Korba seat is scheduled for April 23.

‘Manifesto a betrayal’

Stating that the Congress manifesto had betrayed the State’s people and reflected its aloofness from the ground reality, he alleged that it further motivated Maoists to perpetrate violence.

“The party proposes to scrap the sedition law. If this happens, those rousing passions in forests for violence will have a free rein,” Mr. Modi said, adding that in the process adivasis would bear the brunt.

Reiterating his campaign theme, Mr. Modi said the Congress supported “forces that wanted to break the country”.

In an apparent reference to its electoral promise of reviewing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, he said, “The Congress is toying with your safety and security. It is planning to snatch the only legal weapon soldiers wield in Jammu and Kashmir to protect citizens.”

Stating that the government had gone ahead with scrapping the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which promised health insurance to the poor, Mr. Modi said several of the 35 lakh targeted beneficiaries under the PM-KISAN had not received even the first installment of income support.

“The Congress fears that if the BJP government at the Centre transfers money to accounts of farmers, it will face a beating in the election,” he said, adding that the Congress had a history of betraying the State’s people.

Appealing to the voters, he said, “Every vote for the BJP is a vote for Modi.”

‘People want change’

Earlier addressing a rally in Sambalpur in neighbouring Odisha, Mr. Modi said the people of the State had made up their minds for a change having blindly backed a government that had failed to deliver on various fronts.

“If the trend from the first phase of voting in Odisha is any indication, the picture is clear. There will be a second term of the Modi government in Delhi and a BJP government in the State,” he said.

“People are giving such massive support to us because the country wants a strong and honest government. We amended the years-old mining law and ensured that a part of the fund from the resources is utilised for the development of the locality. Thus, the District Mineral Fund was formed and Odisha received ₹6,000 crore,” he said.