Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said the Rajasthan government’s act of keeping the people deprived of development during the last four-and-a-half years was “another form of corruption”. The “weak leadership” of the ruling Congress was only trying to save its chair in the State, he said.
Mr. Goyal was on a visit to Rajasthan in connection with the BJP’s outreach programme marking the completion of nine years of its government at the Centre. Addressing a gathering of intellectuals here, he said the Congress, busy with its internal wrangling, had failed to fulfil the promises made in its manifesto for the 2018 Assembly election.
“This government has been steeped in corruption and has failed to push development in the State. The law and order has collapsed, the recruitment exam question papers were leaked with impunity and the MLAs and Ministers are involved in illegal mining.” Mr. Goyal said. He said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was only busy in saving his “weak government”.
The Union Minister said the Narendra Modi government had extended the benefits of a number of welfare schemes to the marginalised sections across the country during the last nine years. The lives of crores of people had been transformed with the basic facilities in health, education, water, food and electricity and with infrastructure development, he added.
“The people of the country do not want appeasement... they want to see a strong nation. India is going to be the third largest economy in the world after five years,” Mr. Goyal said. On the other hand, the citizens of Rajasthan were still waiting for unemployment allowance and farm loan waiver, while trade and industries were in ruins in the State, he said.
BJP’s national spokesperson and Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore hit out at the Congress government, saying it was blocking the Centre’s schemes and misleading the people through “false propaganda”. The BJP leaders earlier met lawyers, chartered accountants, ex-servicemen and sportspersons and interacted with the beneficiaries of the Centre’s Mudra Loan Yojana.
