Ahmedabad: Taking a dig at the ruling-BJP for portrayal of Narendra Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday termed it as a ploy to "mislead people."
"He (Modi) thinks that people are not going to vote for him if he asks for his Chief Ministership, but if it is conveyed that he is going to become Prime Minister then people might vote him back to power," said Dikshit, after the release the election manifesto of the Congress party.
"This is nothing but a scheme to mislead people," the senior Congress leader said.
"I don`t understand. Is the outcome of these elections, which you are contesting third time, depends only on the issue of who is going to be the Prime Minister?" she asked.
Recently senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and later host of other leaders said that Modi is the fit to become the Prime Minister. Senior BJP leaders like Arun Jaitley and LK Advani have also praised Modi.
Slamming the Modi government`s claims of development, Dikshit also raised the issue of malnutrition of women and children in the state. "I am surprised to know that here in the state malnutrition in women is 55 per cent," she said.
"Is this not a grave injustice, that 55 per cent of women, who are considered a pillar of the development of the society and nation, are malnourished in the state? And they are claiming that there is no other developed state like this," she added.
Criticising the state government`s policy on employment, she said, "What kind of development is this where government employees are not getting enough salary and government is not implementing the recommendations of pay commission?"
The state government in Gujarat pays fixed salary for first five years to newly appointed government employees in police, school and other government departments.
Dikshit claimed that in the city like Delhi, daily workers are getting higher wages, where 1/3 of total population is from adjoining cities.
"Even unskilled workers in Delhi, where 33 per cent of them are from adjoining cities, are earning Rs 7,232 per month," she said.
Terming the release of Congress manifesto as a "historical day" for the forthcoming polls, Dikshit said the manifesto was a sincere effort to step forward as a society and to touch its every section.
"There is a BJP government in the state for past 17 years and since I have also been visiting the state frequently I have seen the situation deteriorating gradually," the chief minister alleged.
"When Madhavsinh Solanki (Congress) was chief minister, state had achieved more than 40 per cent economic growth, but we never had to sound trumpet for it," she added.
"But today as widespread claims are being made and bugle of exceptional claims is sounded, the state is moving with only 9-10 per cent growth," Dikshit said.
Alleging that people of Gujarat are living under "fear", she said, "CAG had commented about the corruption of more than Rs 42,000 crore in the state and against this chief minister (Modi) and still nobody in the state is talking about it."
"Why people are not speaking up? Are they under some fear not speaking up or what?" she asked.
PTI
