In his first Assembly election campaign meeting in Kerala, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday claimed the BJP would emerge as the third front in the State.

At a crowded meeting at Palakkad, Modi said the large gathering was a sign that his party would emerge as an alternative to the UDF and LDF, both of which he said were robbing the people alternately every five years.

Modi flew in to Palakkad by helicopter from Coimbatore to address the first of his five campaign rallies in the State, scheduled over three days in the last week of electioneering. He will be returning to Kerala on May 8 and May 11.

In his 45-minute speech, Modi touched upon many of the hot campaign issues and highlighted what his government had done for Kerala. Taunting the Oommen Chandy government over the ‘solar scam,’ Modi said he was scared to mention the word ‘solar’ as it would trigger explosions here. In his Lok Sabha constituency of Benares, Modi said, fishermen use solar energy to power their fishing boats. But in Kerala ‘solar’ was ‘energising’ the ruling party and government.

Referring to the rape and murder of a Dalit woman at Perumbavoor last week, Modi said the government had shut its eyes to the tragedy.

Counting the favours his government had done to Kerala, the Prime Minister said when Kerala nurses were in trouble in Yemen, Delhi had immediately arranged for their evacuation.

When the Paravur temple tragedy occurred, medical experts were immediately sent from Delhi to treat the injured victims. When Modi had visited UAE last year, he had made a point to visit the labour camps there which were packed with Keralites.

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