Sambhajinagar, November 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused Congress and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of not renaming Aurangabad after Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj (a Maratha military king).

“When the MahaYuti government formed the government, we renamed it. Maharashtra election is not just an election to elect a new government. In this election, on one side there are patriots who are believers of Sambhaji Maharaj and on the other side, there are people who praise Aurangazeb,” said PM Modi while targeting the Congress and its allies during a poll rally for BJP and MahaYuti nominees. Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: PM Narendra Modi To Address 3 Public Meetings and Campaign for BJP Led-MahaYuti Candidates in State.

PM Modi at Poll Rally in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar

#WATCH | #MaharashtraElection2024 | Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar | PM Modi says, "Those who have problem with Shambhaji Maharaj's name, those who see Messiah in the name of those who killed him, aren't they standing against the Maharashtra and Maratha pride? Aren't these people… pic.twitter.com/ic3pPfezpZ

— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2024

He asked the people to re-elect the MahaYuti to expedite the state’s development. “Who was most hurt when Aurangabad was renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar? Maharashtra knows that the demand was raised by Balasaheb Thackeray. The Aghadi government was in power for 2.5 years but they did not have the courage to do so under the Congress party’s pressure. Whereas the MahaYuti government renamed the city as soon as it came to power. We fulfilled your wish, we fulfilled Balasaheb Thackeray’s wish,” said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister said that Maharashtra has to lead the vision of Viksit Bharat. “BJP and MahaYuti are working for the same Sankalp. To achieve this, modern infrastructure is being built. In this entire region, the railway is being modernised. Maharashtra has attracted maximum FDI after the formation of the MahaYuti government. The people have benefitted due to the investment. In this region alone contracts of more than Rs 70,000 crore have been finalised. This will open up new opportunities for development and mobilise more jobs for the youth,” said PM Modi. Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: Yogi Adityanath To Hold 3 Rallies, Campaign for Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

The Prime Minister also blamed the MVA for doing “nothing” except increasing the “problems” of the state. “MVA has only exacerbated the problems of Maharashtra. There has been a water crisis in Marathwada for a long time but the Congress and Aghadi people always remained sitting idle. During our tenure, concrete efforts were made to fight drought. When the Devendra Fadnavis-led government was in power, it had launched the Jalyukt Shivar Yojana to make Marathwada drought free but it was closed by the MVA government. However, it was again revived after MahaYuti came to power,” the Prime Minister said.

He claimed that the Congress party relies on division and not on development to form the government. “Congress stops Dalits, backward classes and tribals from progressing so that they can retain power from generation to generation. That is why Congress has been against reservation from the very beginning,” PM Modi alleged. He claimed that Congress used to say that reservations were against the country, adding that it considered reservations against merit.

“The mentality and agenda of the Congress remained unchanged. They can not come to terms with the fact that an OBC has been the PM in the country for the last 10 years,” PM Modi said.

“The ‘Prince’ of Congress, therefore, only claims that his party will scrap reservations when he goes abroad. To further their agenda, Congress and Aghadi are conspiring to divide SCs, STs and OBCs into small castes,” claimed the Prime Minister.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 14, 2024 04:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).