Bellary/Tumkur, Apr 9 (Agencies): BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said controlling inflation would be the first priority of a future NDA government and declared that a government led by his party would also bring black money stashed away in foreign banks within a year of coming to power.
On a whirlwind tour of Karnataka, Singh hit out at chief minister Siddaramaiah for calling Gujarat CM and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi a 'mass murderer' and said, "He should apologise for this. Otherwise, I hope the Election Commission will take note of his statement and take strict action against him." Singh claimed Modi was the "most popular leader" of the country.
Describing 2002 riots as "unfortunate", Singh said similar incidents have also happened under Congress governments in Karnataka, Gujarat and other states but the BJP never used such nomenclature for a Congress leader. He sought to turn tables on the Congress saying many leaders of that party were oblivious to the fact that even Sonia Gandhi praised the Modi government in 2008 for its developmental works.
His blistering attack on the Congress started at an election rally in the mining town of Bellary, where he called the Congress and inflation synonymous to each other.
"Congress has been in power for 55 out of 67 years of Independence. Every time they come to power, there has been unprecedented price rise. We will not allow prices to rise under a Modi-led government. We have a clear road map for this," Singh said at a rally.
He listed out BJP's promises about setting up a price stabilization fund, bridging the demand and supply gap and a change in FCI's procurement policy to contain inflation.
Flanked by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and Bellary stalwart B Sriramulu - who have returned to the BJP recently - Singh hope that BJP will repeat its 2009 performance in the southern state, which had sent maximum number of MPs in the current Lok Sabha.
In a separate meeting at Tumkur, about 350 km away from Bellary, Singh raked the issue of black money saying "some influential people" have deposited black money, which belonged to the ordinary citizens of the country, and assured that this illicit wealth will be brought back within one year of NDA coming to power.
"We will use this money for eradicating poverty and addressing the issue of unemployment," Singh declared.
Modi targets Congress, says he understands pain of the poor
Bidar, Apr 9 (IANS): BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Wednesday said he understood the pain of the poor as he had sold tea early in his life and accused the Congress of making false promises to people.
Addressing election rallies in Maharashtra and Karnataka, Modi also accused Congress of using secularism for vote bank politics.
Addressing a rally at Solapur in Maharashtra, Modi took swipes at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who is also the local Congress candidate.
Modi referred to Gandhi as a person "born with golden spoon".
"I was born in poverty. I have suffered it. I use to sell tea in rail compartments. If tea was found to be cold, the customer would break the glass and slap me," said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
"What is poverty, we know. We will live for the poor. If there is need, we will die for the welfare of the poor. On the other side are those who born with golden spoons," he said.
Referring to Gandhi, Modi said Congress leader had visited the houses of poor to understand poverty and such visits were publicised in the media.
He said Rahul Gandhi's father, grandmother and great grand father were prime ministers.
"They are naamdar (have a family name). I am kaamdar (person who works)," Modi said.
He also accused Congress of being arrogant and making false promises.
Modi said Congress had promised to bring price rise under control in 100 days of coming to power in 2009 but that did not happen.
He also sought to woo farmers saying the party would ensure them remunerative prices for their produce.
Attacking Shinde, he accused him of "worshipping" the first family of Congress.
"Till the (Nehru-Gandhi) family was happy, it is well with Shinde," Modi said.
In his rally at Bidar, Modi accused the Congress of not being able to give a proper account of the 10 years of the party-led UPA government.
"For them secularism is votebank politics. For us it is policy of development," Modi said.
"Usually it happens all parties join ranks to defeat the ruling party but this is the first time, everyone is together to defeat Modi," he added.