Modi's guarantees are false: Mallikarjun Kharge in Puducherry rally

Puducherry April 15 (PTI) AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said that the guarantees given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are "false" as none of them have been fulfilled, leaving the people in "utter disarray".

Addressing an election rally organized by the INDIA bloc here to seek votes for the Congress nominee V Vaithilingam in the April 19 Lok Sabha polls, Kharge invoked the promises given by the PM regarding two crore jobs per year to the youth, which were not implemented.

"Similarly, the farmers are not getting a hike in prices for their produce or minimum support price for their crops. The promise of every person getting Rs 15 lakh from retrieval of black money stacked abroad is also yet to be realised," Kharge said.

The Congress president said that such guarantees or promises were "false" and people "were taken for a ride". He said that the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls would be an opportunity for the people to support the INDIA bloc and "ensure protection of their fundamental rights and democracy".

Alleging that BJP had done nothing to prevent inflation, Kharge claimed that both PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are "misusing" the agencies like Enforcement Directorate, CBI and Income Tax to harass MPs and MLAs of the opposition and pressure them to switch their allegiance to the BJP.

He added that whenever BJP could not get power, they adopted arm-twisting methods and harassed elected members of the opposition.

The AICC president said that state governors were also used to harass the Chief Ministers of opposition-ruled states. He said that the Congress leader in Puducherry, V Narayanasamy (who translated Kharge`s speech into Tamil), had faced harassment at the hands of the Lt Governor here when he was heading the Puducherry government.

Kharge alleged that the same tendency was now witnessed in Tamil Nadu also and Chief Minister M K Stalin was also facing harassment at the hands of the Governor.

He alleged that the Tamil Nadu Governor was refusing to sign files sent to him by the CM and was "withholding approval of good schemes for the people".

"If this is the fate of elected Chief Ministers, how can democracy work? People should think whether the Prime Minister is following the Constitution," Kharge said, claiming that Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy is a "tool" in the hands of BJP.

Stating that the Congress is deeply committed to getting statehood for Puducherry, the AICC leader said that the manifesto released recently by the BJP did not mention this issue anywhere.

Tamilnadu Minister for Higher Education K Ponmudi, TNCC president Selva Perunthagai, the Congress candidate for the Puducherry Lok Sabha seat V Vaithilingam and local leaders were among those who spoke at the event.

PTI