Playing up much-touted “Poorvanchal factor” and candidature from neighbouring Varanasi, BJP PM nominee Narendra Modi told people of “mini Kashi” Buxar that he was seeking election from the holy city to ensure development of the neglected eastern region.

“I am coming from Kashi for Poorvanchal,” said Modi engaging crowd in a conversation. “Aap awaaz doge, main sun loonga (I will hear your calls),” he further said, seeking to connect with the locals attending his poll rally here.

He termed the Lok Sabha elections as the “third battle of Buxar” because of the place’s association with two important battles in the Indian history — Battle of Buxar and Battle of Chausa.

The Gujarat Chief Minister, invoking Lord Ram at an animated gathering, said the concept of ‘Ramrajya’ alone paved way for present welfare state, but due to “poisonous” policies of the UPA government farmers have been committing suicides, and soldiers were dying in terror and Pakistani attacks.

“When some Indian soldiers were beheaded on India-Pakistan border, our PM had been serving chicken biryani to his Pakistani counterpart,” he said. Buxar region has considerable number of youth working in Army and farmers have been bearing the brunt of erosion of agricultural land by the river Ganga.

In his 32-minute speech, Modi also targeted Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi over his “chowkidar PM” jibe and said, “Shehzade says that he will make 120 crore people ‘watchmen’ to stop pilferage. His father and former PM Rajiv Gandhi said that of one rupee spent by the Centre for development, only 15 paise reach the targeted beneficiary… I will prove such a watchman who would not allow anyone to loot treasury of the country.” He added: “Main na khata hoon, na khane deta hoon”.

Seeking votes for BJP’s local candidate Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Modi said he chose to contest from Varanasi to be able to work for development of the eastern region. He tried to strike chord with farmers by promising a solution to soil erosion by Ganga. “Atalji had come up with idea of inter-linking of rivers, which is my dream as well”

Modi also attacked his “arrogant” Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar for not sending farmers from the state to receive honours from Gujarat government a few months ago. “There has to be competition in politics, not enmity. But when one is too arrogant, such perversion takes place.”

He woos Yadavs in Nawada, flays Lalu, Mulayam…

Nawada: BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Wednesday attempted to woo Yadavs, the largest caste group in Bihar, as he slammed “promotion” of meat production under the UPA government and asked the community to stop supporting Lalu Prasad who has joined hands with Congress. Modi tried to connect with the community, saying he had come from Dwarka, a Gujarat town referred to as capital of Lord Krishna’s empire in Hindu mythology, and asked them what kind of leaders they are supporting. Yadavs consider themselves as descendants of Krishna. He kept Bihar CM Nitish Kumar mostly out of his line of fire.PTI

… short distance away, Nitish takes on Rahul

Nawada: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Wednesday hit back at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for questioning his developmental claims and manner of implementing social welfare works. “It seems Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh did not tutor him properly on preparation of list of beneficiaries for social welfare schemes,” he said. Nitish was addressing a poll rally at Wazirganj, about 25 km from Nawada town, for JD(U) candidate Kaushal Yadav. Taking a potshot at Kumar, Rahul had said at a rally at Aurangabad on Tuesday that in Bihar poor are categorised in APL (Above Poverty Line) and rich in BPL (Below Poverty Line) list. “The Centre itself has nullified these APL and BPL categories and divided beneficiaries among priority and non-priority sections,” Kumar said and questioned Rahul’s knowledge on the subject.PTI

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