Modi attacks Sonia, predicts BJP win

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a blistering attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi and claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win a thumping majority in the coming elections. Speaking to TimesNow, Modi criticised Gandhi for comparing Gujarat’s development with other states and accused her of making false claims about cooking gas availability in the state. “Our track record is one of development, our track record is one of irrigation, our track record is one of peace, unity and brotherhood,” the chief minister said. “This is the reason people of Gujarat will once again give a thumping majority to the BJP,” Modi said, a day after the Election Commission announced that Gujarat will elect a new assembly in December. “We will decimate the Congress,” he added. Himachal Pradesh, another state ruled by the BJP, will go for polls in November. Modi said he was unfazed by Sonia Gandhi’s election campaign in Gujarat. “We are not a party of individuals...we don’t believe in (a) family,” he said in an obvious attack on the Gandhi dynasty. Describing the BJP as “a party of activists,” he said, “There was no one” at the leadership level in the Gujarat Congress. Asked to comment on Gandhi’s rally in Rajkot on Wednesday, Modi pointed out that the Congress lost badly in the last elections at Chota Udaipur, where the Congress president had addressed the voters. “Now she has dumped the (tribals), she has moved to Rajkot,” he said sarcastically. Modi took on Gandhi for painting Gujarat in poor colours in comparison to some states. “The Congress president should not have done that.” He said that contrary to Gandhi’s claims, the Gujarat government had provided 700,000 families in 300 villages piped cooking gas connection. And it wanted to extend the facility to another 2 million families. “But petty-minded Delhi-based leaders ...have stopped me from laying the pipeline...It is sad she (Gandhi) does not know this.” Asked if he would play a national role if the BJP indeed won a thumping majority in Gujarat, he replied: “Is serving Gujarat not a seva for Bharat Mata?”