Centre working on permanent solution to drought: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government was working on a plan to irrigate parched farmlands in order to arrive at a permanent solution to drought in many parts of the country.

“We are working on a big scheme to bring water to farmlands. We need to have a permanent solution to the drought,” the Prime Minister told an election rally here.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, northern Karnataka, South-Western Uttar Pradesh have been under the grip of severe water crisis and hundreds of farmers have committed suicide in the recent past.

Modi also said that eastern India would witness a second agricultural revolution.

“The revolution will take place in Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and the Northeast. We are working on this direction,” he said.

He said that the NDA government would electrify around 18,000 villages in the next 1,000 days.

“In Assam, there are around 3,000 villages where no electric pole has reached. In the last 3-4 months, over 900 villages across India have got electricity. The rest will be done in the coming days,” he said.

Attacking the ruling Congress government in the state, the Prime Minister said people of Assam suffered from a shortage of sufficient drinking water despite having a river like Brahmaputra.

Asserting that people of Assam were angry with Congress, he said time had arrived to “not only punish them, but cleanse the state” of its misrule.

“The Congress has never got over corruption and family-centric politics. Congress is doing vote bank politics in the name of poor,” Modi said.

Talking about infiltration, he said that the need of the hour was to solve the problem, otherwise Assam cannot develop.

At another rally, Modi attacked the Congress, saying the country has suffered due to ‘backseat driving’ and ‘remote control’ and warned people of Assam against an unstable government in the state.

Addressing a poll meeting here, he asked the people to elect a BJP-led government with absolute majority and defeat the forces which were spreading rumours to create political instability in Assam and stop the state from embarking on the path of development.

Targeting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statement that his government believed in more work than mere talk, Modi said, “What he said was true and the scams of his period have started speaking now.”

“Manmohanji ne kahan ki zubaan se zyada kaam bolta hain aur ab toh aapka kaam bolne laga hain. Yeh toh saach hain ki paap bolte hain aur ab toh parche khulne lage hain aur sab pareshan hain (Manmohanji had said that work speaks more than words and now their work has started speaking. It is true that sins do speak, now the results of their misdeeds are out and all are disturbed),” he said.

In an apparent dig at Singh, Modi said the nation has suffered enough from ‘backseat driving’ and asked people not to hand over the ‘remote control’ into anyone’s hands.

“There are some people who are getting greedy that they will take advantage of a hung assembly and claiming they will run business. Should this be allowed? 

“The country has suffered enough from this backseat driving. Should Assam be allowed to be destroyed through this backseat driving? They are not interested in the country. Don’t give the remote control into anyone’s hands,” he said.

BJP had repeatedly alleged that the previous Manmohan Singh Government was being run by “remote control” and that there were “two power centres” with Congress President Sonia Gandhi taking all important decisions.