Oppn's unity bids open up opportunities for BJP: PM

Shahjahanpur (UP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday dismissed the Opposition attempts at unity as an opportunity for the BJP and mocked the Congress president for hugging him in Parliament, virtually calling it clingy behaviour. At a farmer's rally, on his third visit to politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, Modi questioned the motive behind the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

"Hum karan poochtey rahe avishvas ka, karan nahi bata payey to gale pad gaye," he said. Roughly translated, the phrase conveyed unwanted clingy behaviour: "We kept asking the reasons for their no confidence, they failed to answer but clung to my neck." The reference was to Rahul Gandhi's gesture on Friday during the debate walking up to the Prime Minister's seat in the Lok Sabha and giving him an unreciprocated hug.

Modi also played with words to assert that the Bharatiya Janata Party's election symbol, the lotus, will rise from the mud in the 2019 general election. "If one dal (party) is added to another dal, then it becomes dal-dal (muck), which is favourable for the 'kamal' to bloom," he said, in an apparent reference to the Opposition's unity attempts. Modi said that the Opposition's bid to join hands is an opportunity for the BJP.

During his nearly 45-minute speech, Modi said that the Opposition is merely running after the prime minister's post while ignoring the poor, the youth and farmers. "Are you satisfied with what happened in the Lok Sabha," he asked the people at the rally in Uttar Pradesh's sugarcane belt. "Have you come to know who is at fault? They are not looking at the poor and the country but have their eyes only on the PM's chair," he said.

"Have I done anything wrong? I am only working for the poor and the country, fighting corruption and this is my crime," the Prime Minister said. Accusing the previous governments of lacking the will to help farmers, Modi listed the decisions taken by his government for them. For the first time in the country, he said, a government has decided to allow mills to produce ethanol from molasses and sugarcane juice.

Modi pointed out that the government has hiked the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane by Rs 20 to Rs 275 per quintal for the 2018-19 marketing year, which begins in October. Shahjahanpur is the biggest wholesale grain market and a prominent sugarcane growing district in Uttar Pradesh. This was his third visit to the state, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, in less than a month. Barely a week ago, he addressed rallies at Varanasi, Azamgah and Mirzapur.