'Beware of false guarantees...': PM Modi takes dig at Opposition unity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said Congress and other 'family-centric' parties are giving 'false' guarantees to people and old squabbles among them indicate there is no guarantee of opposition unity, the remark coming against the backdrop of a bid to form an anti-BJP bloc.

He also said dynastic parties work only for the welfare of their families. Those people facing graft charges and out on bail are together with those who are sentenced for scams, PM Modi added. The PM targeted the Opposition after launching the National Sickle Cell Anemia Eradication Mission 2047 by unveiling a portal and releasing a guideline for the management of the disease and different modules at Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh.

He also started the distribution of over 3 crore digital Ayushman cards in the country and 1 crore PVC Ayushman Bharat cards in MP. Reaching out to tribals in MP, where polls are due later this year, Modi said Rani Durgavati's 500th birth anniversary will be celebrated across India and a postal stamp will be released.

"Beware of false (poll) guarantees being given by family-centric parties including Congress. Such people have brought schemes of guarantees though they don't have their own (political) guarantee, " the prime minister said. He said family-centric parties including Congress are hobnobbing together, an apparent reference to the recent meeting of anti-BJP parties held in Patna. "Amid the promises of guarantees, you also have to be careful of those who give false guarantees. Identify their hidden deception and game in the name of false guarantee,” Modi said.

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“The guarantee of such people (Opposition parties) claiming to have come together today means there is something wrong somewhere. Their old statements are going viral on social media. They have always been cursing each other by drinking water. This means this is not a guarantee of the opposition unity,” he said.

He said whenever they (opposition parties) guarantee free power, it means they are going to increase the tariff while the guarantees of free travel entail that transportation in a state is going to be ruined. "Whenever they give a guarantee of pension, it means employees are not even going to get salaries on time. When they give a guarantee of providing cheaper petrol it means they are planning to increase taxes.

"When they give a guarantee of (providing) jobs, it means they will bring policies to ruin industries and business...The guarantees being given by parties like Congress means a flaw in the intention and harm to the poor”, the PM said.

PM Modi said they (opposition parties) failed to give a guarantee of providing full meals to the poor during the last 70 years but the BJP government has given a guarantee of free ration to more than 80 crore people under the PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana.