Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on June 6 night compared efforts by Opposition parties to forge unity against the BJP with that of the rainy season when "creatures like snake, mongoose, scorpion and crab, come together because of the fear of monsoon".
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader claimed Opposition parties are seeking to unite simply out of fear of the ruling saffron outfit and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's achievements during the last nine years.
“The Opposition's unity is just like the rainy season during which all creatures that reside in forests like snake, mongoose, scorpion and crab, come together because of the fear of monsoon. Likewise, the Opposition is also uniting because of the fear of BJP and Modi ji's work and therefore, their unity is getting visible,” Mr. Dhami told reporters in Gwalior when asked about anti-BJP outfits seeking a build a common platform to take on the ruling party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
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Mr. Dhami and several top BJP leaders, including party president J.P. Nadda, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Anurag Thakur, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, State BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, arrived in Gwalior to attend the wedding function of Union agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar's daughter. Also at the function were Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Mansukh Mandaviya, Bhupender Yadav and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar.
Asked about Congress leader Sam Pitroda's statement in the U.S. on issues of unemployment, inflation and health in India, Mr. Dhami said the country's economy is growing at a rapid pace and under the current government, it has jumped to the 5th place in the world from the 11th position earlier.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, India rolled out the biggest vaccination programme in the world and ensured people got food free of cost under the Garib Kalyan Yojna, added the CM.
Mr. Vijayvargiya criticised former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who was in the U.S. recently, for his critical comments on India on foreign soil.
Mr. Gandhi has started a new tradition of criticising India and its leaders abroad instead of praising the nation, he said.
