CM Wrong About Modi: Bandaru

Former union minister and BJP senior leader Bandaru Dattatreya, on Wednesday, condemned the remarks of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy against his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi.

In an open letter to the Chief Minister, Bandaru claimed that Modi has been recognized as the most visionary and progressive Chief Minister the country has ever seen.

He disputed Reddy's quote of 52,000 youth having received skill development training in Gujarat. He said that almost 10 lakh youth in Gujarat were trained in various skill development programs run by the Gujarat government. He also said that 24-hour power supply to rural industries has encouraged the youth of Gujarat to set up thousands of small-scale industries that helped the growth of the rural Gujarat economy.

He added that Reddy's claim of training 3.25 lakh youth in AP was bogus, and said that the Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu scheme, which was aimed at training 15 lakh youth, has flopped.

Bandaru said that the PDS (Public Distribution System) being implemented by the BJP's government in Chhattisgarh could not be compared with the Amma Hastham program as the latter was an election gimmick. Similarly, he said, the Bangaru Thalli schemes are a political stunt compared to the Laadli Laxmi Yojana scheme of the BJP's Madhya Pradesh government.

The BJP leader futher claimed that the Modi government has provided water to 95% of the villages and famers across the state, and that Gujarat's agricultural growth rate has continuously been in double digits in the past 12 years, whereas AP's agricultural growth rate is only 1.96%.

He said the power generation in Gujarat would reach 22,000 MW next year, while the state's consumption is only 15,000 MW, thus enabling the Gujarat government to sell the power in the open market the surplus of 7,000 MW.

Bandaru also listed out the success of schemes, mentioned by Modi in his speech, compared to the schemes in Andhra Pradesh. He also slammed Kiran Kumar Reddy for defending the Congress-led UPA government for mishandling the Indo-Pak border issue.

The BJP claimed that the "Yes, We Can" slogan was not a copy of Barack Obama, but that the slogan was originally coined by Swami Vivekananda for Indian youth. (INN)