Third Front's sole job is to save Congress: Modi

Says nine of the 11 parties support Congress and wear the mask of Third Front when elections come

Making his debut in Odisha in the campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on the Left parties and the Third Front, accusing them of coming to the rescue of the Congress party.

He went to add that nine of the 11 parties support the Congress party and wear the mask of Third Front when the general elections come. 

 

He said: "The west is more developed than the eastern part of the country. This is because the BJP runs the government in those states."

 

Modi addressed the Vijay Sankalp Samabesh at the Barmunda Ground in Bhubaneswar and said he was surprised that people from the Odisha Chief Minister's district had to move to Gujarat for work too.

 

"Biju babu (Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's father and former Orissa CM) will be the most affected to see Odisha in this state. By creating a developed state, we can pay real tribute to Biju babu,” he said. 

 

Taking a dig at Patnaik's limited Oriya vocabulary, Modi who began his speech in the Oriya said he wasn't speaking in Oriya to give the state CM a complex. 

 

"I attempted speaking in Oriya not to disrespect your CM. I spoke in Oriya to get closer to your hearts," he said. 

 

The Gujarat CM said the local language must be respected and spoken to connect better with the people.