Rahul's hug was unwanted, says Narendra Modi at UP Kisan rally

According to media reports, Modi made the comment while speaking at a Kisan rally in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur, opening up for the first time on what happened on Friday in the Lok Sabha.

He said as the result of heterogeneous opposition parties uniting against the Government the BJP will reap a greater harvest.

"We asked the reasons for their no-confidence but when they failed to give it they ended up giving an unwanted hug," Modi said, referring to Gandhi's embrace.

Gandhi made a unique move on Friday during the debate when he hugged the PM  grabbing attention across the nation.

"You may call me pappu, but I will not hate you," Gandhi said perhaps to score a point in political gamesmanship over Modi after his blistering attack on the BJP-led Government.

The PM, taken aback by the younger politician's gesture, could barely reciprocate by shaking hands with Gandhi.

However, on Saturday Modi played with it on a greater political plane, saying the hug was not something he wanted as the Congress could not come up with reasons for the no-confidence motion against his Government.

The NDA Government won hands down against the motion after a nearly 12-hour debate.

The Government got the support of 325 members, while 126 backed the motion with 451 MPs present in the House.

As the result, though predictable, gave the NDA a shot in the arm, Modi on Saturday said at the rally, "There is not just one 'dal' (political party) but dal over dal resulting in "dal-dal" (marshy land) which will only help the 'lotus" bloom."

Modi said his government respects farmers and would see all benefits reach them.

'Our government has decided that sugarcane farmers of the country will get about 80% direct benefit over the cost of the cane. The increase of Rs 200 to Rs 1800 has not been done in any government's history of 14 crops of paddy, maize, pulses and oils,' he said.

He said some sugarcane farmers had come to meet him a few days ago and he told them that sugarcane farmers will soon be able to hear a good news and 'I have come to Shahjahanpur to fulfil the promise:'

"Our constant endeavour is that every single penny of the sugarcane farmer arrives at that time. The old governments that had kept the alliances for decades have been breaking up. The previous governments which had left the balance of thousands of crores were disposed of within a fixed time frame," he claimed.

Modi has been visiting various states of late to address the farmers.

On July 16, Modi addressed a similar rally in the West Midnapur district of West Bengal.

Two days prior to his West Bengal visit, the PM had visited Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh to lay the foundation for the 340-km Purvanchal Expressway.

The BJP had gained the maximum number of seats from UP in the last Lok Sabha elections, which were held fours years ago.

The saffron outfit and its allies had won 73 out of 80 parliamentary seats in the state, routing then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP).

Modi is also the Lok Sabha MP from the Varanasi constituency of the state.

 

Image: screenshot/facebook.com/IndianNationalCongress