Narendra Modi

Bhubaneswar/Sambalpur, April 5: BJP’s poster boy and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi skirted the Hindutva issue and harped on development at all the five election rallies he addressed in the state today.

Modi, who was unexpected to flash the party’s Hindutva trump card in the backdrop of the communal flare-up in Kandhamal, perhaps decided to drop the issue when he could not make it to the trouble-torn district following a technical snag in his helicopter. He, however, briefly flashed the communal card in Bhubaneswar and said the killers of VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati was not being nabbed because of vote-bank politics.

The BJP’s star campaigner began his whirlwind tour from Nuapada at 10am. Addressing a gathering of 5,000-odd people, he said: “It is an irony that a state like Orissa, which has vast reserve of rich minerals, has remained industrially backward. Look at Gujarat… it does not have you resources, but boasts big industries, If the BJP comes to power here, it will turn around this situation.”

Modi’s itinerary that earlier included the sensitive town of Raikia in Kandhamal — where a crowd of 20,000 was left disappointed — was later restricted to Bolangir, Brajarajnagar, Kuchinda and Bhubaneswar, besides Nuapada. At Brajrajnagar in Jharsuguda district and Kuchinda in Sambalpur district, the BJP veteran came down heavily on the Naveen Patnaik government. “BJP ministers brought about development here, but he (Naveen) is taking credit. The people of this state will give a befitting reply (to the BJD).”

A larger crowd of 15,000 greeted the leader in Bhubaneswar. Modi felt the pulse just right. He said: “Scores of youths from Orissa today work in factories in Gujarat. If more job avenues open up here, they can all return home.”

Modi also targeted the UPA and the third front, besides “betrayer” Naveen. “The UPA is disintegrating, it is now a sinking boat, with the allies deserting it. The third front is nothing but a divided house. There are several fronts within the third front,” he said. He reiterated that the NDA was the only viable alternative, which could provide a “strong, inefficient and stable” government.

Lambasting the UPA government at the Centre for “failing” to handle the economic crisis, he said: “The aam admi has been hit hard and more than 5 lakh people had lost their jobs. The Manmohan Singh government is weak.”

As a parting shot, Modi said the BJP would do a Karnataka in Orissa. “In Karnataka, we emerged as a stronger alternative and formed the government. We will repeat our feat in Orissa.”