Modi accused the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government and the current Congress government in Telangana of being accountable and corrupt, and claimed that the BJP was their only option.
Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, denied claims of corruption in the electoral bond system on Tuesday, claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will return to power in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election.
Gadkari stated that he did not wish to comment on the electoral bond plan since doing so would constitute contempt of court because the case is now pending before the Supreme Court. However, in response to claims that the BJP engaged in corruption through the system and received a substantial portion of its donations from infrastructure businesses, Gadkari stated that the government has not issued a single tender for infrastructure projects without using e-tenders.
“I have given work worth ₹25 lakh crores in ten years. We have not completed a single project without e-tenders in the water, shipping, and later road sectors, including ropeways, cable cars, tunnels, and express freeways. Every project was carried out in a transparent, non-corrupt, time-bound, and quality-conscious manner,” he added, adding that he was willing to face the consequences if even one individual came forward and claimed that they had been requested to pay money to acquire employment from the government.
Looking back at his ministry’s work in the last 10 years, Gadkari said that although there had been great strides in the building of tunnels, bridges, expressways and more, the achievement he was personally most proud of was bringing e-rickshaws to replace cycle or hand-drawn rickshaws. “One crore people who were being exploited have been freed, and they are driving e-rickshaws,” he said.
He predicted that the upcoming elections would result in three “hat tricks”: the BJP winning 400 seats and becoming the first party other than the Congress to win a third term in power, Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister for the third time, and Gadkari himself winning the Nagpur seat for the third time.
He predicted that the INDIA alliance would be defeated, but stated that he believed in emphasizing the NDA government’s achievements over the last decade to gain public support rather than adversely criticizing the opposition.
In response to the controversy surrounding the government’s recent notification of the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act, Gadkari stated, “It is very clear that if people of the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jain faiths travel to foreign countries and are deported, they have no right to return to any country. Naturally, our Constitution states that they can be granted citizenship in India.”
In his home state of Maharashtra, he stated that seat-sharing decisions with the Shiv Sena had been “mostly finalized” and that the coalition would achieve a landslide victory. He further stated that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had devised a “solution” to the demand for Maratha reservation in the state, which was no longer an issue.
He declined to comment on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s visit to Delhi and reports that he may join the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition. He stated that any decision on this would be made by the party leadership, who are in talks with him.
Gadhkari further stated that former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s public promise to give him a seat from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was “laughable” and that he had no intention of joining any other party.
“I began my life as a Sangh Swayamsevak and an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) Karyakarta. And everything I am today, all of my goodness, stems from these two organizations. So, everything is OK. I am quite proud of my convictions. If I’m good, so is my party. And if I’m good, so is my ideology,” he explained.
