Modi to emerge stronger after 2019 polls: BJP

The BJP Saturday said the people had a choice between a "corruption-free" NDA under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a "power-hungry" coalition of parties which cannot take him on single-handedly.

BJP national general secretary Saroj Pandey was referring to the Opposition attempts to forge an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, on a day several parties held a show of strength at a rally organised by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata.

She claimed that Prime Minister Modi enjoys unstinted support of the people and would emerge stronger after the 2019 general elections, winning more seats than the NDA's present tally.

"People stand like a rock behind Prime Minister Modi. He is sure to bounce back even stronger after the 2019 polls as the alliance headed by him is bound to win even more seats than it has now," Pandey told reporters here.

People have no doubt that of all political parties, only the BJP under the leadership of Modi is capable of taking the country to new heights of development and build a new India by 2022, free from poverty, filth, corruption, terrorism, appeasement and unemployment, she said.

Asserting that NDA's return to power was a certainty, she said the choice was not difficult for people as there was a 35-party principled alliance under Modi without a single corruption charge against it in five years on one side and a power-hungry alliance on the other whose constituents know they cannot take on Modi single-handedly.

"The Congress and company want a 'majboor' helpless government so that the corruption flourishes but people want a strong government under Modi which ends corruption," she said.

There had been open loot under the "Sonia-Manmohan government" with one big scam following another in quick succession, she said.

"People can't lose sight of the fact that Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi both are out on bail in the National Herald case," she said.

"The Congress in whose tenure payoffs in defence deals were a norm is raising questions on the Rafale deal despite the Supreme Court finding no irregularities in it. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, however, has called Rahul Gandhi's bluff on Rafale and the facts are before the people," she said.

Pandey also alleged that businessmen Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi did not flee the country during the UPA tenure because they had the backing of the previous government.