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Journalism of Courage
Defending his party falling back on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Gujarat Assembly election campaigns, Union Minister Parshottam Rupala Thursday said there was no confusion that the BJP was contesting under Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. “…but Narendra Modi and (Union Minister) Amit Shah have been our Ranji players who are now playing the nationals. If the world is using his (Modi’s) name, why will we not use it? He is from Gujarat and we are proud of it,” he said before party candidate Kamlesh Patel’s nomination rally at Petlad in Anand district.
Rupala also asked the media and opposition to stop questioning why the BJP is using the brand name of Narendra Modi for elections. He went on to draw parallels when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in Gujarat to address one of the Assembly election campaigns in the past. The Union Minister narrated an incident when the former PM was apparently misled by a Congress party worker who handed him over an outdated speech.
“Did they (Congress) forget that their PM used to come to hold rallies here but their own people wouldn’t give him proper information? In one of his Ahmedabad rallies, he said the Gujarat government was not using the funds sent by the Central Government and hence, the people of Gujarat were facing a water crisis,” Rupala said. Reportedly, Rupala later found that “an old leader from former CM Amarsinh’s (Chaudhary) time” went to receive Manmohan Singh “wearing an old coat which had an old letter in the pocket”.
“Water trains were a reality before Modiji became the chief minister. Under his chief ministership, we only sent milk trains to Delhi. Because we send you milk, you can eat pedas,” Rupala continued. Rupala, who later, also joined the nomination rally of the party’s Sayajigunj candidate and city Mayor Keyur Rokadia in Vadodara, praised PM Modi for accepting the Presidency of G20.
The minister also had a word of caution for the party workers, urging them to avoid using social media unless for party work.
