Era of alliances is over, want full majority: Modi in Maharashtra

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the people of Maharashtra on Sunday, to give a clear mandate to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying the era of coalitions was over.

A BJP government in Delhi and a BJP government in the state will be a good and compatible combination, he said.

"Give me a clear majority and I will return to Gondia after five years to list the achievements of developing Gondia and Maharashtra," Modi said, speaking at Indira Gandhi Stadium in the city here on Sunday.

"If you want development, a single party rule is necessary for good governance," Modi said.

Citing the examples of neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, Modi said BJP enjoys absolute majority which enabled development work.

He said tribals in Chhattisgarh are more happy and content than their neighbours in Maharashtra who have all along been ignored by the Congress- Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government.

Modi said the entire world has realised the Indian government was a stable one due to one-party BJP rule.

Launching a scathing attack on the erstwhile Congress-NCP government which ruled Maharashtra for 15 years, Modi said both the parties virtually robbed the state not only of money, but also its glory.

"When it realised that the alliance is a sinking ship, the NCP jumped out of the coalition," he said.

Ridiculing the style of functioning of then Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan, Modi made fun of him saying, "He was so scared of me that he refused to share the dais with me," in an obvious reference to Chavan refusing to attend the Metro Rail project launch in Nagpur recently.

Modi described the Congress-NCP coalition as a gang which looted the state enchequer.

He was more offensive against NCP leaders, particularly NCP chief Sharad Pawar as well as Praful Patel who hails from Gondia.

Modi said that Pawar himself did not fight the Lok Sabha polls and managed to enter the Rajya Sabha to "save himself from embarrassment", but Praful Patel has been made a scapegoat.

He said it was unfortunate that more than 3,700 farmers ended their lives every year when Pawar was the Union agriculture minister.

Modi said Nana Patole, a BJP candidate from Gondia who was elected by a margin of more than two lakh votes defeating Patel, had made frequent requests to him (Modi) to campaign for his candidature, pleading that Patel is a millionaire who spends huge money, "But I told Patole don't bother, you will get elected."

Regretting that he could not make it during the Lok Sabha poll campaign, Modi said he was in Gondia on Sunday to thank the people for reposing faith in the BJP by electing Patole with a huge margin.

Modi said that the plight of tribals in Maharashtra is miserable though a lot of funds are given by the Centre for their welfare and developmental activities, since it never reaches them.

The entire population of the state suffers due to lack of power supply and he blamed the previous Congress led UPA government for its non-cooperation.

He said the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada required the Centre's permission for the dam's height to be raised, but since 2005, the government refused to concede the Gujarat government's demand.

Had the Congress government at the Centre given a go-ahead, Maharashtra would have got electricity worth Rs 400 crore, he said. (MORE) PTI JOE

The NCP was born in 1999, but the hands of the clock, which is its election symbol, never moves, Modi said.

Listing the achievements of his government, Modi said that inflation is under control and petrol prices have gone down.

"A government which ruled for 60 years is asking me achievements of 60 days," Modi said.

Modi said that LBT (Local Body Tax) is nothing but "looto baaton tax" (rob and share tax), adding that if the BJP government is voted to power, LBT would be scrapped.

He reiterated his call to the outlawed Maoists to return to the mainstream and give up their armed struggle.

"Don't kill anybody and sprinkle human blood on the ground; instead they should cultivate the fertile land," he said.