JAIPUR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took a dig at Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, days after the veteran Congress leader read out portions from the previous year’s budget speech while presenting the budget for 2023-24.
“Mistakes can happen to anyone, but last year’s budget was kept in the box. This shows the Congress has neither vision nor gravitas and its plans and announcements remained just on paper,” the prime minister said in his speech after inaugurating the first-phase of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Dausa, Rajasthan.
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is a 1,350-km long expressway that will run across six states and will be India’s longest expressway. Built at a cost of Rs 12,150 crore, the 246-km first phase of the expressway will shorten travel time between Delhi and Jaipur to three hours from the current five. Modi touted it as the grand picture of developed India that his government is trying to build and said it will boost tourism and bring new jobs for youths in Rajasthan.
Attacking the Congress party, the PM said it was afraid of making roads in border areas when it was in power in the state. “They were afraid that if we build a road near the border, the enemy will come walking over it. Congress has undermined the valour of our soldiers,” the PM said. With about 10 months left for the Assembly elections, the PM said the state needs a double-engine government to bring development.