02 January,2019 10:12 AM IST | New Delhi | Agencies
The 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be a public versus coalition contest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday while ridiculing the alliance proposed to be formed by anti-BJP parties.
He dismissed claims by some political pundits that the BJP might not get more than 180 out of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, saying there were a set of persons who echoed a similar narrative even in 2014.
He expressed confidence that the people will again repose faith in the BJP considering the work done by his government over the last four and a half years. "I believe, this election is going to be a contest between those who fulfil and take forward the aspirations of the people and those who stop these aspirations. There is experience of 70 years. The public is the decider," the Prime Minister said.
"It is going to be 'janta (public) versus gathbandhan (coalition)'. Modi is just a manifestation of public love and blessings," he added. Ridiculing the coalition sought to be formed by some anti-BJP parties, he said, "the public knows that earlier it was decentralised corruption, those who sat in the states, looted the states, those who were in the Centre, looted at the centre."
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"I keep telling all political pundits let us trust the common man's intelligence. After all, what did the common people experience from this government that they will go away from us? I have faith in the public, their intelligence," the Prime Minister asserted.
'Safety of soldiers was paramount'
Speaking of the surgical strikes of 2016, Modi said, "I gave clear orders that whether you get success or failure, don't think about that but come back before sunrise. Don't fall for the lure and prolong the operation." The PM revealed that he was keeping tab of the risky operation throughout the night. "I knew it was a big risk. I never care about any political risk to me. The biggest consideration for me was the safety of our soldiers," he said, in his first revelation of the strikes.
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