Thank you, Kashi: PM Modi bids adieu to Varanasi with 'word of caution' for voters

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday exhorted voters not to fall into the trap of those who say that he has already won the election, so it is fine not to vote. He asked people to come out in large numbers to participate in the process. "Some people are creating an atmosphere that Modi ji has already won (the election) and it is fine not to vote. Please don't fall into their trap. Voting is your right and everyone must exercise it," Modi told reporters after filing his nomination from Varanasi. The prime minister on Friday filed his nomination papers from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, accompanied by top BJP and NDA leaders.

 

#WATCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to media after filing nomination from Varanasi. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/ObH3fbwUss

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Besides BJP chief Amit Shah, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, top NDA leaders such as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, SAD leader Prakash Singh Badal and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray were with Modi at the Collectorate as he filed his papers.

The prime minister offered prayers at a temple before he went to the Collectorate. He had won the Varanasi seat in 2014 by defeating his nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, by a massive margin of over three lakh votes.

Yesterday, PM Modi had said while the past five years were about his government making sincere efforts, the next five will be about results. Addressing a meeting here that capped a day which included a massive roadshow and a Ganga `aarti', Modi also laid stress on national security. He said a new India gives a befitting reply to terror.

In an apparent reference to the attack on a Central Reserve Police Force, the prime minister said, “They killed 40 jawans in Pulwama, we have killed 42 terrorists in that area.” He said this is the way his government functions. Modi added that the world backed India in its fight against terror. He also referred to the recent bomb blasts in Sri Lanka, saying innocent people observing Easter had lost their lives. The prime minister will file his nomination papers Friday, seeking a second term in the Lok Sabha from the constituency. Modi said he will not claim that whatever he wished for the constituency had come true during the last five years.

But the pace and the direction of its development are right, he said and outlined the work done by his government in the constituency. He said while he is giving details about his government's work during the last five years, there are some who are not ready to give an account for the ‘70 years’ they were in power.