File Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (PTI Photo)
Slamming the Congress over its charge that the present government was pro-rich, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused it of selling the nation to benefit the rich when it was in power and asked BJP workers to counter the falsehood being spread with facts and self-confidence.
In his concluding address at the two-day national executive meet of the party, Prime Minister Modi said that the NDA government is for the poor and weaker sections of society and cited several schemes and decision of the Centre to drive home his point.
We are accused of being a government for the rich but the truth is that the previous UPA government was the one that worked for the rich.
"Was a government, which allocated coal blocks on the basis of a note, not for the rich? he said, referring to the coal scam in which several blocks were allegedly given away to a select few.
The UPA government sold the nation to benefit the rich and wasted the hard earned money of the poor. We have earned Rs two lakh crore by auctioning only 20 coal blocks and this money has come from the pockets of the same rich people.
Does the BJP government work for the rich? asked Mr Modi, according to a BJP statement.
Stressing the pro-poor credentials of his government, the prime minister said that they will provide LPG connection to one crore poor households and noted that it brought down the cooking gas price to below five dollars per unit after the UPA government had increased it to 8.4 dollars per unit from the original 4.2 dollars.
He asked BJP workers should cite facts and respond to these falsehood targeting the government with self-confidence.
PM Modi also asked BJP workers to work towards ending manual scavenging and told them to ensure that this campaign does not remain confined to newspapers' pages.
The Prime Minister also made a mention of senior party leaders, saying it was due to their guidance that the government had met successes.