Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party president J.P. Nadda targeted the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress over the issue of corruption at two separate public meetings in Bihar. While Mr. Singh claimed that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will easily achieve “the target of 400-plus” seats in the Lok Sabha election, Mr. Nadda said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working to put “corrupt leaders in jail”.
Mr. Singh was campaigning for BJP’s Saran candidate Rajiv Pratap Rudy while Mr. Nadda held a rally in support of Pradeep Kumar Singh, the BJP’s Araria seat nominee.
“I have already addressed several rallies in the country and seeing the kind of support we are getting, I believe we will easily achieve the target of 400-plus seats,“ Mr. Singh said in Saran. Praising the developmental work of Mr. Modi, Mr. Singh said nobody can deny the fact that the Prime Minister is the only leader who has made India proud at the international level.
The BJP leader also asserted that India’s economy, during former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s regime till 2014, was at the 11th spot in the world but grew manifold after Mr. Modi took charge and it is now the fifth largest.
“Several economists have said that India is the fastest growing economy in the world and the way it is growing, we will break into the top three by 2027,” Mr. Singh said.
He blamed the Congress and its leadership for not taking steps to tackle corruption. Mr. Singh claimed that successive Prime Ministers of the party, from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi and Mr. Manmohan Singh, failed to end corruption.
“The Congress has not had a single government without its leaders facing serious corruption charges. Even in Mr. Manmohan Singh’s regime, Ministers had to go to jail but there had been no such instance in governments led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Modi ji,” Mr. Singh said.
He said voting for the RJD and Congress would put democracy in danger, and without naming anyone, mentioned the imposition of Emergency in the country.
In Araria, Mr. Nadda said “RJD” is an abbreviation for “Rishwatkhoori [bribery] Jungleraj Daldal [swamp]”. “Modi ji wants to put corrupt people in jail but the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance wants to protect them,” he said.
Later in the day, Mr. Nadda addressed another rally in Muzaffarpur in support of BJP candidate Raj Bhushan Nishad. Mr. Singh addressed a second rally in support of Janata Dal (United) candidate Dileshwar Kamat at the Supaul Lok Sabha seat.
