Congress has one-point agenda 'Remove Modi': Sibal

Ahmedabad, Aug 18 (UNI) In view of the forthcoming Gujarat Assembly election, Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal today claimed the Congress has ''single point agenda to remove BJP Chief Minister Narendra Modi from his position in Gujarat''.

Talking to mediapersons here this evening, Mr Sibal launched the first salvo against ruling BJP, saying the Congress has one-point agenda to expose every self-boasting lies of Mr Modi and defeat him in the Assembly elections.

He said the Congress was sure of its victory in Gujarat as the Modi government has failed to fulfil the promises that he had made in its last election manifesto.

He claimed the BJP had failed to allocate even a single hectare of 19,000 hectares of land, supposed to be allocated as per the record of 1980, to the tribals in the state. From 1980 till it was ousted from power, the Congress had given over 20,000 hectares of land to tribals.

To a poser, the Congress leader denied that the Gujarat Congress lacked a candidate who could be projected as Chief Minister if the party had to be voted to power. In fact, it is not policy of the Congress to project anyone as a chief minister, as it is always decided by the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) once it gets majority in state elections, he clarified.

The Union Minister said the Modi government had failed on every count from agriculture to industry to education to bio-technology to information technology, while in contrast it was expected that Gujarat would take a lead in all these fields as it being a developed and resourceful state.

Lamenting the poor contribution (15 per cent) by rural population to the state GDP growth, he said the most-affected section was farmers, who are deprived of sufficient power and water supply despite tall claims by Mr Modi that every village has been given 24 hours power supply under the Jyotir Gram Yojna.

In the Modi regime, the Gujarat's farmers are really in worst socio-economic condition and over 300 of them have committed suicide because of depleted farming conditions, Mr Sibal alleged.

Replying to ongoing spat between the CPI-M and Congress over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal issue, he said the issue was not a threat to the party and it would not lose majority or power in the Centre.

UNI