Amreli: Addressing a public rally in the Amreli district of poll-bound Gujarat on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he feels like home whenever he visits the district.
“Whenever I come to Amreli, I feel like home. The sheer turnout of people here shows which way the election is going this time. The levers of election are not with politicians or candidates, but in the hands of the people who have turned out in such huge numbers today,” the PM said.
Voicing hope that the BJP will return to power in the state, the PM said: “This time, Kamal Khilvu Joiye (the lotus should bloom).”
He added that the Amreli district will emerge as a bustling centre for maritime trade, adding a new chapter to its history.
“The mushrooming of industries here in the last 20 years and the innnovative agricultural practices introduced by the Krishi Bibhag (agriculture department) helped Amreli make a telling impact on the state. The agricultural development in Gujarat was in the negative before we came to power in the state. It is the result of our hard work that today, the Gujarat’s agricultural development has reached double digits,” the PM said.
Claiming that Amreli was once in the throes of a water crisis, the PM said every village in the district now received piped water supply.
“The farmers here have now been liberated from issues arising out of water and electricity. There was a time when transformers would blow out and running repairs on them would take 2-3 months. Now, transformers are repaired on making a phone call,” the PM said.
Polling for 182 Assembly constituencies in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes for the state, along with those of Himachal Pradesh, will take place on December 8.
The BJP has fielded several new faces in the Assembly polls this year while suspending seven party leaders, all outgoing MLAs, who had filed nominations as independent candidates after being denied tickets.
All seven suspended leaders had been seeking tickets for the first phase of polling in the state.
“The MLAs have been suspended for six years for anti-party activities,” a BJP release quoting the party’s state president CR Paatil stated.
