Congress to become extinct like dinosaur in few years: Rajnath Singh
Gauchar/Lohaghat/Kashipur (U'khand), Apr 12: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh claimed on Friday that the Congress will become extinct like the dinosaur in a few years from now and likened the infighting in the opposition party to television reality show "Bigg Boss".
"The exodus of leaders from the Congress continues. They are quitting the party one after another and joining the BJP," Singh said at a rally in Gauchar which is part of Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency.
"I am afraid that in a few years from now, the Congress will become extinct like the dinosaur. In a few years after 2024, if we take the name of the Congress, children will ask, who?" the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader added.
He also commented on the infighting in the Congress. "They are fighting with each other on a daily basis. The party has become somewhat like the house of 'Bigg Boss'. They are tearing each other's clothes," Singh said.
The BJP leader was in Gauchar to campaign for Anil Baluni, the party's candidate from Pauri in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Singh addressed two more election rallies at Lohaghat under Almora and Kashipur under Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar constituency.
Union Minister of State for Defence and Tourism Ajay Bhatt is contesting from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat.
Singh said India has emerged as a strong country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership. The voice of the country is heard distinctly on international forums and taken seriously, he added.
The defence minister claimed that the Russia-Ukraine war was suspended for more than four hours following Modi's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Joe Biden for the safe evacuation of 22,500 Indian students stranded in Ukraine.
He said the world is acknowledging the progress made by India over the past few years.
Singh also quoted the US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, as saying that if the world has to see the future, it should come to India.
"We are manufacturing most of our defence equipment in India now. Earlier, we used to export defence equipment worth only Rs 600 crore. Over only seven years, we are exporting defence equipment worth more than Rs 21,000 crore. India is not an ordinary country now," he said.
Describing the BJP as a party that does what it says, Singh said it implements its manifestos in verbatim.
"We said we would abrogate (the provisions of) Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, we did it. We said we would bring the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, we did it. We were saying since 1984 that we would build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and we did that too," he said.
"On the contrary, parties like the Congress have only been making false promises to people. Had it fulfilled even 50 per cent of the promises made in its manifestos, India would have been a developed country by now," Singh said.
Later, addressing another election rally at Lohaghat in support of Ajay Tamta, the BJP candidate from the Almora (reserved) Lok Sabha seat, Singh said during the days of Congress governments, border villages were called India's last villages but Modi called them the first villages and prioritised their development.
It shows the diametrically opposite approaches of the leadership of the Congress and the BJP, he added.
Congress governments did not do infrastructure development in border areas because the party was afraid of neighbouring countries like Pakistan and China, Singh alleged.
"We also want good relations with our neighbours but we should also be capable of retaliating if nudged or provoked by anyone," he said, referring to the work done by the Modi government for building border infrastructure in Uttarakhand over the last 10 years.
The BJP leader also slammed the previous Congress governments for handing out "lollipops" to veterans in the name of 'one rank, one pension', which he said was implemented only after Modi took steps in right ernest to fulfil the longstanding demand.
"When we took over in 2014, in terms of the size of our economy we were at the 11th position in the world. In the last 10 years, it has jumped to the fifth position and our prime minister is confident of making it the third-largest economy in the world before the end of 2026," he said.
Talking about the country's growing international stature under Modi, Singh spoke about the acquittal of eight Indian naval officers on the death row in Qatar after the prime minister's intervention.
"What is wrong with the Congress? It demands proof of surgical and air strikes from the armed forces," he said.
Refuting the Congress's charge that the BJP is creating divisions between Hindus and Muslims, Singh said it was a false allegation levelled by the opposition party to hide its own drawbacks.
"If it was true, five Arab countries would not have conferred their highest honours on Narendra Modi," he said.
"You should excuse the Congress now. It is in real bad shape. Even senior Congress leader Harish Rawat has admitted that it has become slow and weak. I can also say that the party is not well enough to climb the hills, these heights. Only the BJP can do so," Singh said.
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Udupi CNG fuel shortage: Long queues of vehicles has become a common sight
Udupi (Karnataka) Apr 29: The coastal district of Udupi is going through a severe shortage of Compressed Natural Gas for Automotive applications.
Although the number of CNG fuel-based vehicles is increasing, the number of CNG filling stations in Udupi district has not risen. In the existing bunks, the supply is not as high as the demand. Due to this, motorists, especially rickshaw drivers have to wait for hours to get their fuel tanks filled.
“I've been waiting for not less than four-five hours everyday for the past one week. Most of the time my vehicle is idle and I am not able to take up fares, as a result of which I have lost so much of income and my bank obligations will take a beating if this continues any longer," Sundar Shetty, a rickshaw driver in Udupi said.
CNG fuel is not being supplied to existing bunks as per demand. And as the demand is high, the stock depletes quickly and sometimes the rickshaws are parked overnight in a queue for early morning refuelling, leaders of the CNG Autorickshaw Drivers Association said.
In Udupi town, there is only one bunk that has CNG facility, but most of the time it is empty.
“Due to high investment on land, equipment and daily stocks, there are not many takers for this business” the bunk owners said.
There is only one CNG station in Kundapura taluk out of three in Udupi district. There are more than 5,000 CNG based vehicles in the district.
The sight of hundreds of rickshaws and other vehicles waiting to fill CNG fuel at the CNG bank in Koteshwar every day from 4 am is very common.
Sometimes one has to wait till 8-9 o'clock. However, there is no guarantee that everyone will get fuel. Similar are the conditions in Karkala and Kundapur taluks of Udupi district.
The rickshaw drivers and other CNG users have appealed to the Udupi district authorities and approached the Udupi Chamber of Commerce and Industry to put pressure on the government to normalise supply and to open more bunks.
