JAIPUR: Amid the World Cup fever in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the Rajasthan Congress is like a cricket team whose batters spent five years trying to run out each other.

Addressing a public meeting in Churu district in support of BJP candidate Rajendra Rathore from the Taranagar constituency, Modi exhorted people to vote for the party in the November 25 Rajasthan Assembly polls to ensure rapid development of the state.

In Jhunjhunu, he targeted the Congress by alleging that the party has “developed the tradition of corruption, nepotism and appeasement” which led to a huge loss for the country. The youth in India did not get opportunities because of this, he claimed.

At the public meeting in

Churu, Modi referred to the power tussle between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot saying, “In cricket, a batter comes and scores runs for his team. But there is so much infighting within the Congress that instead of scoring runs, its leaders spent five years trying to run out each other.”

Modi said, “When their team is so bad, what runs will they score and what work will they do for you?”

He said if the BJP is voted to power in Rajasthan, it will throw out all corrupt people and the state will witness rapid development. “The more you stay away from the Congress the more you save Rajasthan, the more your future is assured,” Modi said.

TONK: Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot’s stature as a national-level Congress leader and his outreach to allay concerns of sections of influential communities here ahead of assembly polls has boosted his re-election bid from this constituency amid the BJP’s strong push for Hindutva and the “local versus outsider” narrative. BJP’s Ajit Singh Mehta is pitching it as a “local versus outsider” battle, claiming that Pilot this time does not have the Chief Minister face advantage he had last time. Mehta has been asserting that he is a Tonk resident who knows the micro-problems faced by people. He has been claiming that Pilot is an “outsider” who had won big last time due to the chief ministerial face advantage he had.