Live reporting: Congress has become a liability for the country, says Modi at Ranchi rally

Ranchi: Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi today targeted both the Congress party and its vice president Rahul Gandhi at his Ranchi rally.Addressing an impressive gathering of BJP supporters, Modi termed the Congress party a liability for the country.Targeting Rahul Gandhi, Modi said that while nothing is being done to check price rise and corruption, the Congress leader has been only coming out with “akashwani” (celestial voices).Modi's made these remarks at a rally here apparently referring to the Congress Vice-President's meeting with Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states in Delhi on Friday during which he asked them to check prices and implement the Lokayukta Act on the lines of Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill. Gandhi had disapproved of the Maharashtra government's decision to reject the Adarsh Commission's report on the society building scam.“In ancient times, people heard akashwani (celestial voices) that came as if they (voices) were not concerned about the happenings around....Today, there is akashwani that CMs will do this, CMs will do that. People who are involved in corruption....if there is honesty in the words of people who do akashwani, then they should respond as to how corruption developed under Congress in Jharkhand,” Modi said without naming Gandhi.He said Congress leaders were doing the same today. Attacking Congress, Modi said the ruling party at the Centre has become a “liability” and a “crisis” for the country as it has lost connection with the masses. “Congress party, its governments and its leaders cannot listen to the voices of the people....People today want development, not division, they want opportunity, not political opportunism, they want security, not poison of communalism,” he said.Attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of inflation, the Gujarat Chief Minister said despite holding a meeting of Chief Ministers on price rise three years ago, the government has so far failed to take any steps in that regard. He claimed that he was made a head of a committee to recommend steps to curb price rise.“There were two other CMs from UPA and Congress-ruled states. We gave 62 actionable points and recommended 20 initiatives. The PM said we did a good job. But two-and-a-half years have lapsed and no action has been taken. The central government has been paralysed,” Modi said.Addressing a rally in Mumbai last week, Modi had slammed Rahul Gandhi on the issue of corruption. Referring to Rahul's speech at FICCI in Delhi, the Gujarat leader had said, “I had heard the speech of a big Congress leader yesterday. He was speaking against corruption. See their daring. No one else can dare do this. These people are so immersed in corruption. Despite this, they make innocent face and speak against corruption.” Accusing successive Congress governments at the Centre of ignoring the demands of creation of a separate Jharkhand state, he today said the voice of the people was ignored and at times suppressed.Giving credit to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for carving Jharkhand out of Bihar, he said the state lagged behind in development.He said while Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were created at the same time, the latter two were behind in development due to the policies of successive non-BJP governments.He said if Jharkhand is able to give all its 14 Lok Sabha seats to BJP in the 2014 general elections, then the party will find it easier to form the next government at the Centre. “It will ensure the development of the state,” he said, adding that the present government at the Centre was not inclined towards development of the state. He said while Jharkhand produces coal, it lacks power plants. “The coal is exported from the state for the power plants....Power plants should have been established in Jharkhand and electricity should have been supplied to other states.”“Any expert will say that a state with these kind of resources can match any developed country....Such a state rich (in terms of resources) is still poor,” he said. Earlier, addressing the rally, BJP President Rajnath Singh hit out at the Centre for instituting a Commission of Inquiry into snoopgate.The commission will investigate charges of spying on a young woman in 2009 allegedly at the behest of Modi. “As soon as the allegations were made, Modi himself ordered an inquiry. There is a tradition that the Centre does not institute a fresh panel if state has already announced one,” he said.He claimed that Gujarat witnessed only one communal riot “but they (Congress) keep terming Modi as communal....Now, an Ahmedabad court has given him a clean chit,” Singh said.The huge dais from which Modi spoke had a backdrop of the Indian Parliament with three stages. Modi spoke from one stage, and the other two stages had senior leaders of the party sitting there. Heavy security arrangements had been made for the rally in view of recent reports of an Indian Mujahideen module which masterminded the serial blasts during Modi's Patna rally. The party organisers have specially invited villagers from Sithio, where the Indian Mujahideen module had planned the Patna serial blasts. Prabhat Tara ground in Dhurva, Ranchi, is adjacent to Sithio village. Here are the regular updates:02:44pm - Narendra Modi concludes his speech02:42pm- Modi: 2014 Elections will be a Jan Andolan02:40pm -Modi:It is need of the hour, understand voice of the people. People want development not division02:34pm - Modi: Congress has become a burden for the nation. They are cut off from the people, do not know what people want02:32pm - Modi: A BJP government in Delhi will ensure that Jharkhand does not lag behind02:30pm - Modi: People ask me about my vision. Coal is in Jharkhand and electricity comes from outside, is this vision?02:27pm - Modi: I gave actionable points on controlling price rise to UPA govt but nothing was done02:26pm - Modi:Should the poor not be fed? Is it not the Centre's responsibility? But they talk as if it is not their responsibility02:25pm - Modi: What we need is intent, not holow promises (Irade Chahiye, Wade Nahi)02:23pm - Modi:When I took over as Gujarat CM, GSFC was in trouble. We brought in professionalism, used technology as well. Today it is making profits02:22pm - Modi: There are elections in 2014 and you have 14 states. Make sure to ensure that all these 14 seats are offered to Rajnath Singh jee02:21pm - Modi: In anybody's life, the time span between 13-18 years is very important. One should take this period very seriously.Please don't allow it to get wasted2:20pm- Modi: 3 states-Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh - were created together. They faced similar problems but see how Chhattisgarh developed02:19pm- Modi: We have to fulfil the dreams with which Atal ji created the state of Jharkhand 02:18pm- Modi: It was Atal ji who heard the voice of the people. We will be always thankful to him02:17pm- Modi: For 50 long years, the Sultunate in Delhi never heard the voice of Jharkhand02:16pm- Modi: The Congress party will have to answer this question.02:15pm- Modi: Jharkhand has rich natural resources. It is blessed with skilled manpower too butstill there is poverty in the state. Why?02:14pm- Narendra Modi praises Birsa Munda02:13pm - Narendra Modi starts his speech02:12pm - Rajnath: Now an attempt is being made to implicate Modi in a snooping case but they will not succeed in this.02:02pm - Rajnath: Narendra Modi has ben harassed for one riot but now he has been given clean chit from the court02:00pm - Rajnath: The credit for the enactment of Lokpal Bill should go to Anna Hazare and BJP.01:58pm - Rajnath: In 2009 elections, UPA had promised to check inflation within 100 days but they failed to deliver01.47pm- Rajnath: Power crisis is so severe in the state that people of Jharkhand are forced to use generators for electricity 01:46pm - Rajnath Singh praises Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Indian Cricket team.01:45pm - Rajnath Singh praises Birsa Munda01:44pm - BJP president Rajnath Singh starts speaking01:36pm - Narendra Modi reaches rally venue10:30am - People have started coming from faraway places of Jharkhand since night. Party organisers hope the attendance may touch five lakhs.