Ahmedabad: Sounding the rallying cry for a new Gujarat, Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday defended the central government’s recent economic decisions and said the state’s ruling BJP was not against corruption but only against her party.
Addressing a rally in Rajkot, about 200km from here, Gandhi took on Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has demanded that the government make public the account of money spent on her medical treatment last year.
“Yeh log brashtachar ke khilaf nahin, sirf hamare khilaf hain. (These people are not against corruption, just against us),” Gandhi said.
“Ek naya Gujarat banana hai aur banayenge (We have to make a new Gujarat and we will),” she said, sounding the war cry ahead of elections to the Gujarat assembly on December 13 and 17 announced by the Election Commission.
Gandhi also vigorously defended the government’s decision to increase diesel prices and permit foreign investment in multi-brand retail.
Congress sources said this was a pre-poll rally and she would address three or four more rallies as part of the party campaign.
Party sources said Rajkot, in Saurashtra region, was chosen as the site for the launch of the Congress campaign as farmers there had been facing problems.
Challenging the BJP’s version of development in Gujarat, Gandhi said the waters of Narmada had still not reached parched Saurashtra.
“The farmers here are suffering due to lack of water. I want to ask: why the water of Narmada has not reached the farmers of Saurashtra in the past 10 years,” she said.
Gandhi said the Sardar Sarovar dam project was started by the Congress government in the name of the famous Congress leader from Gujarat, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Noting that parts of the state had suffered due to drought this year and some farmers had committed suicide, Gandhi urged the state to survey the regions and send a report to New Delhi, so farmers of the region could be provided help at the earliest.
Taking a dig at the development plank of Modi, Gandhi claimed that no other party has done as much development work in Gujarat as the Congress, but some people claimed credit for every achievement. “The people of Saurashtra region earned fame due to their hard work,” she said.
A day after the 143rd birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who was born in Gujarat, the Congress president invoked his legacy and said the party continued to draw strength from the leader of the freedom struggle.
“We have come a long way on the path shown by Mahatma Gandhi, but we have miles to go,” she said.
IANS
