Congress never gave Goa 'due respect' it deserves: Rajnath

Curchorem (Goa): Launching a scathing attack on the Congress Party, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that the Sonia Gandhi-led party has never given Goa the due attention and respect, adding that it is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has always taken Goa's case into consideration seriously.

Singh was addressing an election rally in Curchorem ahead of the assembly polls in Goa, slated for February 4.

Also, asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only leader who has held India's head highest in the world, Singh said that unlike Congress, BJP-led government at the Centre has been corruption-less so far.

He further questioned the Congress Party and said, "Why didn't the Congress---while they ruled the country for more than 50 years---take the country from the queue of being developing to a developed country?"

The Union Minister hailed various policies of the Narendra Modi-led Government and said, "No state which is governed by the Congress party can ever see the kind of development that is witnessed in the BJP governed states."

He then lauded the efforts of Goa-based Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar for giving a befitting reply to Pakistani terrorists and said, "Goan leader Parrikar taught the cowardice terrorists a good lesson".

He also accused the Congress Party for playing caste and religion card and said, "Congress should understand that politics should be done not just to make government but to develop the society."

Promising to turn India into a 21st century sunrise sector of tourism, he said that Goa will become the biggest contributor to the cause.