UP Elections 2017: PM Modi promises 24/7 electricity, thanks Lord Shiva for showing Akhilesh's 'lie'

On Saturday, PM Modi continued the BJP’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh as he spoke in his home constituency – Varanasi. He said he had made Kashi his ‘Karya Kshetra’ so that people could regain pride in the nation. He added that Kashi  wasn’t a city but a ‘symbol of humanity’ and BJP would build an ‘Uttam Kashi’.

Attacking Akhilesh, he promised that when the BJP government came to power, there would be 24 hours electricity. He said: “24 ghante bijli dene ka vaada karta hoon,mujhe Ganga maiya ki kasam khaane ki zarurat nahi hai.” PM Modi also thanked Lord Shiva for giving proof of Akhilesh’s lie, saying that there was no electricity when Akhilesh went to the temple. He said: “Akhilesh Yadav lies about providing 24x7 electricity, I ask you, is power outage a problem or not. But today bhole baba (Lord Shiva) himself gave them proof as during their temple visit today, there was power outage.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he chose Varanasi over Vadodara because he wanted to restore the ancient temple town to its former glory. "I had won the Lok Sabha polls from Vadodara in my home state and Varanasi. I chose Varanasi as I wanted to restore the lost glory of the oldest city in the world," he told a town hall gathering in his constituency, seeking to strike a chord with the voters of election-bound Uttar Pradesh.

The Prime Minister began his speech with throaty chants of Har Har Mahadev , an incantation to Lord Shiva which has also been the traditional form of greeting for residents of this ancient city.

Reaching out to his constituents who will vote in the last of the seven-phase assembly elections on March 8, Modi spoke his first few lines in Bhojpuri, the local dialect, and expressed his delight over getting an opportunity to visit the temples of Kashi Vishwanath, the presiding deity of the city, and Kaal Bhairav, who he referred to as "Kashi Kotwal (the custodian of Kashi)".

Apparently peeved at the Congress demanding registration of an FIR against him for today's roadshow here, Modi recalled how permission was denied for his rally in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections when he was the BJP's prime ministerial nominee.

Modi said being a "small worker of BJP" apart from the local MP and Prime Minister, he had the right to interact with people of his constituency.

"I am a small BJP worker besides being the Prime Minister and an MP. I am pained by the memory of election officials in the city depriving me of an opportunity to hold a rally during the Lok Sabha polls. Permission for the rally was granted at the last moment. I wonder what might have been the compulsion for the election officials to take such a decision.

"Assembly elections are a festival of democracy and I availed of this opportunity to interact with the people of my parliamentary constituency by travelling in an open vehicle on my way to holy temples," Modi said.

The district administration had refused to give permission for the rally in a crowded locality of the city during the Lok Sabha elections of 2014. Senior BJP leaders including Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley had sat on a dharna in protest.

Earlier in the day, the Congress approached the Election Commission seeking registration of an FIR against Modi for the roadshow, alleging it was held without due permission from the poll panel or the local authorities.

Referring to the importance of Varanasi, also called Kashi, Modi said, "During my tour of the US, I happened to visit Boston and I was told that they had a street which they fondly called Kashi, and the people there commonly referred to those in the teaching profession as guru. The Prime Minister referred to a slew of measures undertaken by his government for the facelift of Varanasi and mocked Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for doubting his commitment to improving living conditions in the city.

"The formation of a BJP government in the state is a certainty now," he asserted. 

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at Varanasi's famous Kashi Vishwanath temple, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav offered their prayers at the temple.

Congress leader Raj Babbar was also present there.

#Watch UP CM Akhilesh Yadav,Dimple Yadav& Congress VP Rahul Gandhi offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple,Varanasi.Raj Babbar also present pic.twitter.com/fqunSsNmld

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 4, 2017

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi offered his prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple and headed to Kaal Bhairav.

#Watch Prime Minister Narendra Modi performing 'aarti' at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi pic.twitter.com/noIUBx99zz

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 4, 2017

Rahul Akhilesh Yadav earlier in the day held a road show in Varanasi on the sidelines of Prime Minister Modi's visit.The Samajwadi Party-Congress road show began from 'Kachehri chauraha' area and culminated at the 'Girjaghar chauraha'. Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati also held a rally at Jaunpur.

Dimple Yadav joins CM Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi's roadshow in Varanasi #uppolls2017 pic.twitter.com/Z5TCVObTvM

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 4, 2017

Security forces have been deployed in large numbers to stand guard over the high-profile rallies.
The results of the elections, along with those in four other states, will be announced on March 11. (ANI)
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Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had attacked Modi and accused him of making "conditional promises and deals" even with "Ganga maa". "Modiji keval Ganga maa se wade hi nahi karte, balki Ganga maa se sauda bhi karte hain, kahte hain pahle vote do tab kam karenge. (Modi does not only make promises to the Ganga, but even strikes deals with her, saying first vote for me and then I will work)," the Congress vice president told an election campaign rally here.

"Modi told Maa Ganga that first make him the Prime Minister and then only he will carry out its cleaning works," said Gandhi seeking votes for local party MLA Ajai Rai from Pindara assembly seat under Banaras Lok Sabha constituency.

While attacking Modi for allegedly making "conditional promises" to the people of Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi promised in the same vein if Congress-SP alliance forms government in UP it "will give Rs 20 lakh to youths for starting their own business."

"Modi strikes relationships with the Ganga maa saying he he is beta of Banaras and that Maa Ganga called him to Varanasi," said Rahul and asked, "Does Maa Ganga had only one son and that too from Gujarat? 

"Ganga belongs to everyone and not to a single person." Referring to a slew of PM's alleged promises for Varanasi, Rahul said "Modi had promised Metro rail, did people get it?" "Modi talked of making making Benaras a Kyoto city, give each house clean drinking water, fly luxury planes over Ganga and to set up a Bhojpuri film city here," said Rahul asking if the city got any of these things till now despite lapse of over three years since he became the PM.

Accusing the Prime Minister of failing in fulfilling his promise of providing jobs to people, Rahul said he did nothing for the farmers and youths, but "waived loans of liquor baron Vijay Mallya and country s top 50 richest families".

"Modi comes here, gives long speeches, shows dreams to people and asks them to make him Prime Minister, make BJP win the UP assembly elections and only then he would provide jobs to unemployed youth, work for the development of the state," said Rahul.

Exuding confidence that Congress-SP alliance would win the UP assembly elections, Gandhi said the polling in the last five phases has shown that voters favoured Congress-SP alliance while "Modi ji lost his smiles had looked sad as if he has already lost the polls."

With inputs from PTI and ANI