Congress and drought are twins: PM Modi in Rajasthan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the commencement of work of an oil refinery at Pachpadra in Rajasthan's Barmer district. The Rajasthan Refinery will be the first and one of a kind in the state.

Addressing the gathering, PM Modi said the Congress and drought are 'twin brothers' because wherever the party goes, there is drought.

"Congress and drought are 'twin brothers', wherever the party will go there will be drought only. Some people mislead citizens often. Their misleading the nation on Barmer refinery is not the exception, but the norm. There are several such areas in which they have been misleading the nation for years," he said.

He added that the Congress-led UPA government allotted Rs 500 crore for One Rank, One Pension (OROP) even after knowing that this number is not the accurate figure.

"Is this the respect they had for the armed forces? For 40 years, nothing was done about OROP. Before the 2014 elections, a token sum was allocated towards OROP even when it was widely known this sum is unrealistic and too less. It was our commitment to make OROP a reality and we worked towards making that possible," said Modi.

He added that when the BJP assumed office, one of the first things it did was to see what work has been done on the promises in the Railway Budget.

"Just for a few claps in Parliament, some people made promises they could never keep. We were determined to end that culture of misleading. The manner in which chief minister Vasundhara Raje has managed the drought situation during both of her terms and helped the people is commendable. It is in contrast to the opposition in the state whose poor drought management in Rajasthan is widely known," said Modi.

He asserted that this is a time for 'Sankalp Se Siddhi', "We have to identify our targets and work towards achieving them by 2022, when we mark 75 years of freedom".

The Rajasthan Refinery will be the first and one of a kind in the state. It is a joint venture of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and government of Rajasthan. It is envisaged as a nine million metric tonnes per annum (MMTA) refinery-cum-petrochemical complex. The estimated cost of the project is said to be over Rs 43,000 crore.

The refinery is expected to change the growth landscape of Rajasthan and western parts of the state in particular. The biggest advantage with the refinery is that it is being set up in the vicinity of its oil source.

The project promises to change the landscape of the state and generate employment as well. Later in the day, the Prime Minister will also address a public meeting.

The prime minister will also inaugurate 11 completed National Highway projects, covering a total length of about 873 km, a Rajasthan government spokesman said in Jaipur.

However, the Congress has slammed the state government for re-laying of the foundation stone, saying it had already been performed four years ago by Gandhi.

The function was earlier termed as a 'shilanyas karykram' or the foundation laying ceremony. Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot today said the changing of the function's name is nothing but face-saving by the chief minister. He also alleged that the government stalled the project of an oil refinery for four years and misled the people of the state.

"All the welfare schemes started by the former Congress government were stalled by the present government and now it is trying to take credit for political advantage ahead of the elections," he told reporters.

OneIndia News