Committed to attack graft: PM Modi after BJP show in civic polls

GONDA: Buoyed by the success of his BJP in local body elections in Maharashtra and some other states after demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he was committed to root out corruption. "Odisha, where there is so much poverty, starvation, unemployment and where the BJP did not even have foothold to place its flag, people have given so much support that everyone is taken aback...even the poor of Odisha have come with the BJP," Modi said at an election meeting here. "Yesterday, Maharashtra gave its verdict and the Congress has been wiped off. Be it civic body polls in Odisha, Maharashtra, Chandigarh or panchayat polls in Gujarat, in three months wherever there were polls, whether BJP had any presence or not, people used their third eye and ensured its victory. This means that my responsibility has increased," he said. BJP scored an emphatic win in the Maharashtra civic polls, emerging as the largest party in eight of the 10 municipal corporations, while finishing a close second to the Shiv Sena in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Modi invoked Lord Shiva on Mahashivratri and said people, with their third eye, can see what is good for them and what is bad. "...we do not get intoxicated by power. It gives us inspiration to work for the people with full dedication," he said, adding his fight against corruption and black money will continue and he will not allow those who had plundered the country for 70 years to go scot free. Addressing the election meeting in the region close to Indo-Nepal border, Modi referred to the recent train tragedy in Kanpur and said findings showed it was a conspiracy and the conspirators carried it out sitting across the border. "Kanpur rail accident in which hundreds were killed was a conspiracy and conspirators carried it out sitting across the border...Gonda is adjoining Nepal...if the cross-border foes want to carry out their work, is it not necessary that more vigil is maintained in Gonda?" Modi posed. "Gonda needs to elect only those who are full of patriotism, only then we can do anything good for Gonda," he said. "There should not be any mistake in these elections...be it the SP or the BSP, not a single seat should go to them...100 per cent seats should be won by the BJP," Modi asserted.