Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday attacked the opposition INDIA bloc over corruption, as he kicked off the BJP’s Lok Sabha poll campaign from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. On a day the Congress, AAP and other opposition parties held a mega protest in New Delhi over Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, the prime minister said the elections, this time, will be a contest between the “enemies” and “patrons” of corruption.

“Modi will not be stopped. Action will be taken against every corrupt person,” he said at a public gathering. He shared the stage with RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, who recently joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA); CM Yogi Adityanath and his Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini; along with veteran actor Arun Govil of Ramayan fame, who is the BJP candidate from Meerut.

Targeting Kejriwal, who was arrested on corruption charges in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, Prime Minister Modi said some leaders were behind bars because the BJP’s fight is against corruption. “They are not even getting bail from the Supreme Court… Some people are rattled by this action and they have come together under the umbrella of the INDIA bloc,” he was quoted as saying in a report published by Hindustan Times.

The PM once again launched an attack against the Congress, blaming former PM Indira Gandhi for ceding Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974. Earlier in the day, he wrote a social media post on X about this, saying the “Congress can’t be trusted”.

“Another anti-India conduct of the Congress has been unveiled today. The island of Katchatheevu, which lies between India and Sri Lanka and is extremely important from the perspective of national security, was given away by Congress after independence. India is still paying for the misdoings of the Congress government,” he was quoted as saying.

He said the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is not just for making a government but to make a ‘Viksit Bharat’, asserting that people have only seen a “trailer” of development and his government was preparing the roadmap for the next five years. Lauding Meerut as a land of “revolution and revolutionaries”, PM Modi said it gave leaders like Chaudhary Charan Singh to India.

“Our government has already started preparations for the third term. We are making a roadmap for the coming five years. Work is going on rapidly on what major decisions we have to take in the first 100 days. In the last 10 years, you have seen only a trailer of development, now we have to take the country much further,” he added.

‘RAISING KATCHATHEEVU ISSUE SHOWS MODI’S DESPERATION’

The Congress has also hit back at Modi over his charge that Indira Gandhi gave away Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka. Before the Meerut rally, national president Mallikarjun Kharge asked why the PM did not take steps to get the island back in his 10-year rule. He alleged that raising the “sensitive” issue ahead of elections shows his “desperation”.