On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the poll bugle in Rajasthan by inaugurating the 246-kilometer-long Delhi-Lalsot-Dausa section of the Delhi-Mumbai motorway in Dausa.
As he laid the foundation stone for several road projects worth more than Rs. 18,100 crores in Dausa, he took a swipe at the Congress-led Rajasthan government, saying the Centre has made huge investments in infrastructure in the last 9 years.
The new stretch is expected to reduce travel time from the national capital to Jaipur from five to three and a half hours.
PM Modi stated during his speech in Dausa, “In this budget, we have made a provision of 10 lakh crores for infrastructure, which is five times more than in 2014”.
“The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor are going to become two strong pillars of progress for Rajasthan and the country. “These projects will change the face of this entire region, including Rajasthan, in the coming years,” he added.
PM Modi told an election rally in Dausa shortly after the inauguration ceremony that the people of Rajasthan must restore the BJP to power in order to be saved. While presenting the state’s 2023-24 budget, he took a shot at CM Ashok Gehlot by reading excerpts from the previous year’s Budget.
“People understand how they (Congress) run the state, and everyone understands what happened in the recent budget,” he said. “If Rajasthan had got the power of the double engine govt, it would have developed more. “Congress neither works nor allows others to work,” he added.
PM Modi’s remarks came ahead of Rajasthan assembly elections later this year. “I understand that anyone can make mistakes, but Congress lacks vision. “Rajasthan requires a government that works for its development,” he added.
Notably, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar addressed the audience via video link. While Gehlot joined the show from the chief minister’s residence in Jaipur, Khattar spoke from a function in Nuh district.
PM Modi also claimed that the Congress-led Rajasthan government was ineffective in rural and border areas. “Congress governments did not carry out development work in border villages and areas because they were afraid,” Modi said at a BJP rally in Dausa district.
In the last nine years, the prime minister said, his government has built a network of roads and rail in border areas.
The Congress won the majority of seats in eastern Rajasthan in the 2018 assembly elections. The BJP is looking to expand its regional base.