Telangana issue perfect example of Congress sowing 'seeds of poison': Modi

Sujanpur (Himachal Pradesh): Accusing Congress of pursuing vote-bank politics, Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the turmoil over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was a perfect example of how the ruling party sowed 'seeds of poison'.

"You (Congress) have started this vote-bank politics and now you are blaming us (BJP). It is Congress which sows seeds of poison. Andhra Pradesh is the perfect example to prove that you do 'zeher ki kheti'," Modi told a rally here.

Taking on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate said, "Madam is saying the next elections is for unity and that we sow seeds of poison. But who is doing this? Who started this? Who created rifts between brothers, states? Who differentiated between the rich and the poor?".

Noting that the creation of three new states under the NDA regime had been a smooth affair, Modi said that there was no strife when BJP bifurcated Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

"BJP does politics of love, not hatred," Modi said while accusing Congress of doing politics of 'hatred and untouchability'.

"One day, a Kerala leader praised me, he was removed. A minister from Kerala met me, he was taken to task. This politics of hatred and untouchability is not good for democracy," he said.

Congress is "a dynastic party and dynastic politics is the enemy of democracy", he said.

He also slammed the UPA government over the issue of inflation and said that although Congress had promised to combat price rise within 100 days, it had not been able to do deal with the problem.

"In the past 60 years, Congress has done nothing towards development, but the BJP will change everything in 60 months," he said.

Raising the issue of corruption and black money, Modi said, "The root cause of corruption in this nation is the Congress party. If Congress leaders are not corrupt, then why are they worried over black money?

"These people have looted the poor and stashed away black money abroad. We have to bring it back. The salaried classes and those who pay income tax regularly will get a reward from the black money brought back to the country."

Expressing confidence that NDA would return to power after the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Modi said, "The days of politics of breaking the country is over... BJP is committed only to the politics of development."

Calling upon the people to vote for 'employment and a corruption-free India', he said, "We are committed to taking the country to new heights... I have not come to you with promises but with the determination to make NDA the 'national development alliance'".

Taking a dig at HP Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Modi said that although Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says that 'money does not grow on trees', the Himachal leader showed a 14-fold increase in income, claiming that the money had come from 'trees'.

With an eye on the upcoming elections, Modi tried to woo ex-servicemen, who constitute a major vote bank in Himachal Pradesh, saying, "It is a land of warriors and martyrs. I welcome the ex-servicemen who joined BJP. It's the party where there is no membership, but there is relationship."

He promised new policies for the development of Himalayan states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir while averring that special schemes may also be drawn up for the other states. He said that tourism has great potential in the country and expansion of railways can give boost to the industry.

Modi said that the country has 65 crore youths and it could have made big strides had proper "skill development programmes" been taken up 10 years back to hone their skills.

Meanwhile, BJP President Rajnath Singh who, too, addressed the rally, said that Congress had no concrete policies for the country and any "Tom, Dick and Harry was baring its teeth at India due to its weak leadership".

"Such a situation would end when Modi becomes prime minister," the BJP chief averred. There is a need to give full powers to Indian security forces to help them deal with crises at its borders as troops from neighbouring countries were repeatedly violating the nation's territorial sovereignty, he said.