Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke about the “unwanted hug” he received from Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Parliament, saying it was a result of the opposition’s lack of reason for their no-confidence motion against his government.
“We asked the reasons for their no confidence but when they failed to give it they ended up giving an unwanted hug,” Modi said, referring to Gandhi’s embrace during a debate on the no-confidence motion moved by TDP in Lok Sabha and supported by various opposition parties.
Modi’s BJP-led NDA won the no-trust vote with nearly three-fourths of majority.
Addressing a Kisan Kalyan Rally in Shahjahanpur, he said the coming together of several parties against the BJP will be an opportunity as they were running after the prime minister’s chair, ignoring the poor, youth and farmers. He used a Hindi expression that translates to more the parties, more the marshy land in which the ‘lotus’ blooms.
“If one dal (party) is added to another dal, then it becomes dal-dal (marshy land) which is favourable for ‘kamal’ to blossom,” he said.
Lotus is the election symbol of the BJP.
Accusing previous governments of not having the will to help farmers, Modi listed the key decisions taken by his government for welfare of farmers and criticised the parties who ruled in the past for lacking pro-farmer intentions.
He also said that for the first time the government has decided to allow mills to produce ethanol from molasses and sugarcane juice from December 1.
After reaching out to voters in Azamgarh, Mirzapur and Varanasi last week, Modi addressed the rally in Shahjahanpur, the biggest wholesale grain market and also a prominent cane growing district in Uttar Pradesh which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
This was his third visit to the state in less than a month. Farmers in large numbers from adjoining districts such as Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, Sitapur, Bareilly and Badaun attended the rally.
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