Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Goa on Saturday to address an election rally, where he urged voters to re-elect the BJP government. In his inimitable style, he asked Goans to elect a stable government.
“The Opposition parties are working overtime, more than the efforts put in by Finance Minister to prepare the Budget, to criticise the advancement of budget date. It is an indication that these parties have accepted defeat in the forthcoming polls,” he said, addressing an election rally in Goa’s capital Panaji.
“Though the union budget is going to be presented on February 1, some political parties are already making graphs to criticise the government, without even having an idea of the budgetary provisions,” Modi was quoted by PTI.
The PM appealed to the voters of Goa to give a comfortable majority to the BJP in the election for “growth” and stability of the state, which had suffered due to instability in the past.
However, the prime minister was once again left red-faced with lack of response to his rally. As reported by Indian Express, nearly half the ground, where Modi addressed the rally, was left empty.
Goa has been governed by BJP since 2012 and, as reported by Janta Ka Reporter, there’s palpable anger against the saffron party in the state. Many people interviewed by Janta Ka Reporter had told how angry they were with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who they felt had betrayed voters in Goa.
Today’s lukewarm response to a rally addressed by a person no less than a prime minister, will cause plenty of heartburn in the BJP camps in general and the prime minister in particular. This assumes significance also because Panaji, where Modi addressed today’s rally has traditionally been a BJP bastion and always elected Parrikar until he was elevated to Modi’s cabinet.
Photo: Indian ExpressOn Friday, Modi had addressed an election rally in Jalandhar in Punjab, where thousands of chairs were seen empty and crowds simply refused to turn up to listen to him.
