Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has urged the people of Tamil Nadu to give a decisive mandate for change of rule at the Centre.
Addressing an election rally in Coimbatore on Wednesday, Modi said: “I am aware that Tamil Nadu is facing acute shortage of water and power. Do you think there is no solution to such issues?,” he posed and narrated Gujarat’s success on these issues.
“When I took over as Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, the State was in darkness. People requested me to give them at least one light at dinner time. By 2004, we converted the situation. Today, Gujarat is able to supply power to every nook and corner of the State,’ he continued, stating ‘there is a solution to every issue. We should attempt to resolve it.
"The State is endowed with natural resources. It has the highest amount of lignite in the country, yet, faces power crisis. Tap the wind potential and solar energy, strengthen transmission lines. The NDA Government had initiated a project for providing this infrastructure, but the UPA Government did not take it forward,'' he said and urged the textile mills in the region to change the fate of TN.
Modi was in the city campaigning for the NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan and Kongu Makkal Desiya Katchi candidate E R Easwaran for Pollachi constituency.
"The State needs a strong and reliable government. Both the Dravidian parties, that come to power alternately every fifth year, are engaged in verbal outbursts, in blaming each other instead of finding a solution to the issues impacting the common man,'' he said and called upon the people to vote for a strong Government at the Centre and look for an alternative force in the State.
Highlighting the growth of MSMEs in Gujarat, he said: "While the Centre's records show that the growth of MSMEs (all India) in 2012 was 19 per cent, it touched 85 per cent in Gujarat. The Government in power can make this happen,'' he added.