RANCHI: BJP's prime ministerial candidate on Sunday attacked the UPA government for ignoring Jharkhand.

Addressing the rally from a stage which had a backdrop of parliament, Modi underlined that it was the BJP government under the leadership of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee which helped to carve out Jharkhand as a separate state.

Comparing BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh with Jharkhand, Modi said the people of Chhattisgarh have been giving Raman Singh the mandate to develop the region while Jharkhand has lost the opportunity to become the leading state of the country.

Speaking at the rally, BJP president Rajnath Singh accused Congress and the UPA government of conspiring against Narendra Modi over 2001 Gujarat riots.

He said Congress has been targeting Modi over Gujarat riots which took place more than a decade ago. "The more the Congress attacks Modi, the stronger he will become," Singh said while pointing out that a Ahmedabad court has already given a clean chit to Modi in one of the cases.

The BJP president also criticized the UPA government for corruption and inflation.

Rajnath Singh said Gandhian activist Anna Hazare should have been given the credit for passage of Lokpal Bill and not Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Jharkhand police made arrangements so that there are no loopholes in providing security for BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during his Ranchi visit. DGP Rajiv Kumar himself reviewed the security arrangement at the rally ground and gave important instructions to cops.

Over 500 commandos of Jharkhand Jaguar were deployed at the site. A similar number of district police personnel were deployed to keep vigil at the site at night. A total of seven-layer security was put in place at the rally venue.

A team from Gujarat police held rounds of meetings with senior police officers here. ADG Rezi Dungdung, Ranchi IG M S Bhatia, Ranchi DC, SSP, and several other senior officers spent hours at the site reviewing security. The entire ground was scanned by deep earth metal detectors. Dog squads were seen moving all around the site.

