PM Modi praises CM Saini in poll-bound Haryana

Kurukshetra: Eyeing to woo non-Jat and Other Backward Class (OBC) votes in poll-bound Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday praised Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini by saying, “In such a short time, Nayab Singh Saini became popular in Haryana. Coming from a backward class, Nayab Singh Saini became Chief Minister.”

“Whenever I hear praises about Nayab Singh Saini, it fills my heart with pride,” PM Modi said at a public meeting in Kurukshetra, party’s first major public meeting.

Giving his development guarantees, by calling them Modi Guarantees, he said in the last few years, Haryana has reached among the top states of the country in terms of investment and income.

“I am proud of this. We have seen the period of the Congress government when the development money was limited to only one district. Every child of Haryana knows in whose pockets that money went. The BJP has connected the whole of Haryana with the development.”

Praising the brief stint of the incumbent CM, PM Modi said Saini dedicated his 24 hours to the state. “The BJP government approved three crore permanent houses and we've given water connections.”

Saying there is no other party more dishonest and deceitful than the Congress and for cheating the people on reservation, the Prime Minister said, “The Congress family has always harbored animosity towards B.R. Ambedkar and vehemently opposed reservations. This family has consistently disrespected Dalits, OBCs, and tribals. When Nehru was Prime Minister, he opposed reservations, stating that if those with reservations were to get jobs, the quality of government services would deteriorate.”

Slamming the neighbouring Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, PM Modi said: “Two years ago, the Congress government was formed there. But what is the situation there today? No citizen of Himachal is happy today.

“In Himachal, the Congress has made everything expensive, including electricity, water, petrol and diesel. Cheating the public is the work of the Congress. The free treatment scheme that the BJP had started earlier in Himachal and the scheme for providing bank help to youth, all such schemes have now collapsed there.”

Sounding the poll bugle, PM Modi launched the party’s campaign with an aim to retain the helm in the state for the third straight term ahead of the Assembly elections on October 5.

A total of 23 candidates who were present at the Modi’s public meeting, which the party believes is a platform to showcase strength and unity.

The 23 Assembly seats fall in districts on the GT Road belt, comprising Panchkula, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Panipat districts and parts of Yamunanagar, Sonipat and Kaithal.

In the 2019 Assembly polls, Congress wrested 14 seats from BJP, mostly falling along the GT Road belt, considered the stronghold of BJP.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP, which won 40 seats, well below the 75-plus target, and was six short of a majority in the 90-member Assembly, announced an alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) led by Dushyant Chautala, great-grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.

The rival Congress won 31 seats, while the less-than-year-old JJP, which broke away from the state's once major regional Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) owing to family disputes, won 10 seats.

Seven Independents and one each of the INLD and the Haryana Lokhit Party had also won.

In the 2014 Assembly polls, BJP had won 47 seats and formed the government in the state for the first time.