Surat: Touring poll-bound Gujarat ahead of the upcoming elections, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley emphasised on the importance that the state holds for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He said: “Gujarat is a very important region for BJP because we have been winning and serving here more than two decades.”
Jaitley also credited BJP for the politics of development in the state. “During the 80s, politics of social polarisation was rampant in the state. The region got rid of that under BJP government and we have been constantly trying to take it on the path to development,” he said.
Taking potshots at Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for visiting temples and religious places in the state, he said that people would prefer an original pro-Hindutva party and not a clone.
“BJP has always been seen as a pro-Hindutva party so if an original is available why one would prefer a clone,” he asked.
Blaming the previous Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for the poor economic growth of the country, he said that the past 10 years of governance before PM Modi was the most corrupt ever.
“It was a leaderless government. It was said that the then PM is a PM in office but not in power. Foreign Investments had completely stopped at a point in India. Today we have come up by 42 positions in the World ranking of Ease of doing business,” he asserted.
“In 1990s the reforms were taken under compulsion but the government under PM Modi is undertaking the reforms by conviction,” he said.
He also added that while the BJP has maintained its credibility, Congress is slowly becoming ‘extinct’.
Bureau Report
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