Congress betrayed people: Narendra Modi

Dubbing Congress as a "betrayer and habitual liar", BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi today said the party realised the need to feed the poor after 60 long years and accused it of bringing its flagship food security law so late.

The only agenda of Congress is "stop Modi", he said. "It took Congress 60 years to bring a law on food. Everybody has a stomach, everybody gets hungry. But they remembered after 60 years that they need a law on food," Modi said at the party's "Vijay Sankalp Samavesh" here. "I seek control of price rise, but Congress says 'stop Modi'. I want eradication of corruption, but Congress says stop Modi."

Stating that good governance was the need of the hour, Modi said, "if 1857 was the battle for 'swaraj' ( self-rule ), 2014 will be a battle for 'su raaj'(good governance)." The Gujarat Chief Minister said Congress failed to keep the promise of checking inflation within 100 days it had made before the last elections. "Congress had promised before the 2009 lok Sabha elections that it will control rising prices within 100 days .. but it turned out to be a false promise," Modi said.

Because of "utter failure" on the part of the UPA government, people consider Congress to be a "betrayer and habitual liar" which always came out with false promises on the eve of elections to get votes, he said. "People can forgive someone who commits a mistake, if someone has some weaknesses, but they would never forgive one who indulges in acts of betrayal," the BJP leader said.

Modi said it is not that people want a BJP government or Narendra Modi as Prime Minister but the country wants to teach a lesson to those who have ruined it. People want good governance, he said.