Hitting out at the Congress party for “not letting his government work despite a huge mandate”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said 40 MPs were trying to prevent 400 MPs from fulfilling the wishes of the people.
Addressing his first rally in Chandigarh as Prime Minister, Modi targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, saying some people were disrupting the Parliament “out of sheer arrogance”.
“It’s time you tell those you have elected as Members of Parliament to debate inside the House. Ask them to put the government in the dock and ask PM Modi what his government has done,” he told the gathering at the rally ground in Sector 25.
“Ask them to let the Parliament work. By disrupting the Parliament, they are trying to block the country’s development, which is most unfortunate.”
With just two days for the monsoon session to end, the deadlock in the Parliament has stalled passage of some key bills, particularly the goods and services tax bill. The ruling NDA is worried that the logjam is derailing its agenda of reforms.
“If our voice is scuttled in Lok Sabha, we will take to jan sabhas like this,” Modi told people in Chandigarh, adding that development was and remains his key promise to the people of the country.
Modi, who was welcomed on stage by several war-decorated ex-servicemen, also accused the previous UPA government led by Congress of being “non-serious” about implementing the one rank, one-pension (OROP) scheme.
“The seriousness of the previous government is betrayed by the fact that it earmarked just Rs 500 crore for the scheme. We have pegged it at Rs 10,000 crore. It is not a small amount, but not big considering the sacrifices of brave soldiers for this country,” Modi said, adding that he finally fulfilled the promise he had made to the ex-servicemen in Chandigarh before he was elected.
“When we started discussions, we realised the issue ran deeper than we expected. After several months of deliberations, we have fulfilled our promise,” Modi added.
Sharing a platform at a public rally with Modi and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar together for the first time, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, the BJP’s ally in Punjab, struck a jarring note by urging the PM to also think about farmers.
“By implementing OROP, you have done Jai Jawan. Now it is time to do Jai Kisan,” he said, referring to Modi’s election slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’.
Khattar, during his speech thanked the PM for bestowing development projects on Haryana and asked Punjab to play the role of “big brother” to iron out irritants.
Pointing out that the legacy of sharing between the two states continues, Khattar said, “We have a common capital, secretariat, assembly and now an international airport.”
