PM Modi slams Congress-led governments in Karnataka, Rajasthan over lack of development

PM Modi lauds Maharashtra govt's progress, slams Karnataka's "hollow announcements". He lauds Maharashtra's industrial development, and flags off Pune Metro Rail project. He says metro is becoming a new lifeline for cities, and CM Shinde says MVA govt is a "triple-engine" one, driving Maharashtra's progress.

Slamming the Congress-led government in the neighbouring State of Karnataka over its alleged failure to ensure rapid development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday lavished praises on the Maharashtra government headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Mr. Modi was speaking in Pune after flagging off metro trains marking the inauguration of completed sections of phase 1 of the Pune Metro Rail project. He also handed over keys to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

“The industrial development of Maharashtra has paved the way for the industrial development of India since independence. On the one hand, Maharashtra is making rapid strides while on the other, a government was formed in Karnataka by making hollow announcements. Now, the whole nation is witnessing what is happening in Bengaluru, a big IT hub and global investor centre. It was expected that Karnataka would make rapid progress but with the change of government, people there are suffering,” said the Prime Minister, addressing a packed crowd in the city’s Police Ground area.

Mr. Modi further said the Karnataka government itself had accepted it did not have money for the development of Bengaluru or Karnataka, ruing the “political selfishness” of the government there.

“The situation is the same in Rajasthan [another Congress-ruled State]. Debts are increasing and no development work is taking place,” said Mr. Modi.

Mr. Modi claimed that in the past nine years, the Union government had built more than four crore houses in villages and cities for the poor.

“Most of these houses built by us are registered in the names of women. These houses are worth many lakhs and crores of women in the country have become ‘Lakhpati didis’ in the past nine years,” he said.