Narendra Modi says Congress original, AAP its photocopy

Pathankot: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday targeted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at an election rally here, and termed it a photocopy of the Congress.

Addressing a rally ahead of the February 20 Punjab Assembly elections, Modi said farming, trade and industry will be made profitable in five years if the BJP-led alliance is voted to power in the state. "Give me five years to serve you. I assure you farming, trade, industry will be made profitable," Modi said at a poll rally in Pathankot.

Attacking political rivals, he said, "We see Punjab from the Punjabiyat angle, which is our priority. Rivals see Punjab only through political prism." Targeting the Congress, Modi said the party failed to keep Kartarpur Sahib, the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, within India's territory during the Partition.

He invoked Sant Ravidas and said his government was following his ideals, and that the welfare of the poor was above everything else for it. The prime minister reached here to attend the rally after offering prayers at the 'Shri Guru Ravidas Vishram Dham Mandir' in Delhi's Karol Bagh on the occasion of Ravidas Jayanti. "Today is Sant Ravidas Jayanti. Before coming here, I went to Guru Ravidas Vishram Mandir (in Delhi) and sought blessings," he said.