Ahmedabad, 15 August 2012

Gujarat Congress has reacted to Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s popular announcements in Junagadh district.

When asked, leader of opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said, “Gujarat Chief Minister is in power for last more than ten years, but he never took a decision to ban Gutkha. Similarly in his entire rule, he never gave separate district status to Somnath. Now when elections are near, he is declaring the things. If he was really concerned, who was stopping him to declare ban on Gutkha or separate Somnath district earlier?”

“These are all poll tactics,” he added.

Gujarat Congress President Shri Arjun Modhwadia had yesterday issued a statement asking the same.

Modhwadia in his statement said, “it was Congress government that had taken a decision to provide sales tax/VAT free diesel to fishermen as early as in 1980. The Congress government had executed the scheme by making subsidized diesel available at petrol pumps near fishing ports. It was BJP government that stopped the scheme, due to which in last ten years poor fishermen faced added burden worth thousands of crore of Rupees. The state government should return this money to them. If govt doesn’t provide sales tax/VAT free diesel even now, we would start agitation.”

Modhwadia added that the government didn’t build even a single fishing port in these many years, but now when the elections are near, the Chief Minister is promising construction of number of fishing ports.