For the first time since he became the Prime Minister of India and took office in Delhi two years ago, Narendra Modi will address a public rally in his home state Gujarat on Tuesday. His choice of venue, the Saurashtra region, is politically significant as the BJP gears up for next year’s assembly election, expected to be the toughest battle the party has faced in the state in years.
PM Modi inaugurated an irrigation project in Saurashtra, dominated by the influential Patel or Patidar community, a staunch BJP support base for years but which has now put the party’s government in Gujarat on notice over its demand for reservation in government jobs and colleges. He is likely to address the rally after the inauguration.
As it grapples with not just the massive Patel agitation but also one by the state’s Dalits angered by the brutal beating of four young men last month by cow vigilantes in Una, the BJP hopes the Prime Minister’s rally will rejuvenate party cadre.
The BJP said about 80,000 people are expected to gather for the PM’s rally this morning in Jamnagar’s Sanosara, and it is expected to set the tone for the crucial election to be held in Gujarat late next year.
The opposition has called today’s inauguration of the Saurashtra Narmada Avataran for Irrigation or SAUNI project an election gimmick and a “lollipop for farmers”.
“Modi is known to make false and deceiving promises keeping in mind the elections. Ahead of 2012 polls in Gujarat, (Narendra) Modi, as Gujarat Chief Minister, had launched SAUNI project. Now, as the polls are approaching, he is coming here to inaugurate the project which is still incomplete. Inaugurating such a project is like a lollipop to farmers ahead of the polls,” said Shankarsinh Vaghela of main opposition party the Congress has alleged.
The BJP has rubbished the charge. “Narendrabhai had announced the project in September 2012 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, and after four years the first phase of the project is to be inaugurated by him,” said state BJP leader Rajubhai Dhruve, adding, “This would probably be the first project in the country to be announced and implemented within four years.”
The SAUNI project will fill 115 dams in Saurashtra with the waters of the river Narmada through a network of pipelines; PM Modi will today inaugurate the first phase for 10 dams in the region, which faces an acute shortage of water for drinking and irrigation.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will be present at the function, as will his predecessor Anandiben Patel who resigned last month amid allegations that she mishandled the Patel and Dalit agitations in the state, weakening the political position of the BJP after decades of ruling the state.
Sourced from NDTV, Featured image courtesy: images.financialexpress.com
