J&K: Development journey to continue despite Oppn propaganda, says Jitendra Singh

Union Minister and BJP Candidate for the Udhampur-Doda-Kathua Lok Sabha seat Dr Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said the constituency is on a fast-track development journey that will continue despite opposition propaganda.

Making a scathing attack on Congress and its allied opposition parties on the sidelines of a roadshow in Kathua district on the last day of the campaigning for first phase of the Parliamentary election, Jitendra Singh alleged Congress had deprived this entire region of any development for over 60 years and deliberately also halted ongoing projects only to appease their masters and to keep particular sections of vote bank in good humour by doing discrimination with this region.

"The irony is," he said, "the Congress leaders who say that there is no development happening in this region are the ones who are using these facilities created by us in the last 10 years, whether it is the network of roads, or bridges or flyovers or tunnels or the Medical Colleges".

Singh said, that in the last 10 years under Prime Minister Modi, the Udhampur-Doda-Kathua Lok Sabha constituency has among the most developed constituencies in the country. He said it is perhaps the only constituency in the country which got three centrally funded Medical Colleges and a host of national projects including the highest railway bridge in the world, the longest road tunnel in Asia at Chenani, North India’s first Industrial Biotech Park at Kathua, North India’s first River Rejuvenation Project at River Devika, North India’s first Cable Bridge Atal Setu in Basohli, two Passport offices, Radio Station at Udhampur, etc. 

Not only this, as Prime Minister Modi mentioned during his address at the Udhampur rally on the 12th of this month, the Congress-led UPA government halted the Shahpur-Kandi Project, which would benefit the twin districts of Kathua and Samba and the project was revived only after Prime Minister Modi came to power. 

Taking a dig at the opposition leaders, Dr Singh said, on the one hand, the Congress leaders and its allies say that there are no roads constructed, on the other hand, while driving through this constituency they are invariably using the 9½ Kms Syama Prasad Mookerjee Tunnel from Chenani to Nashri to cut down their travel time by 1½ hours. If these leaders have any conscience, let them at least not use these facilities provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Similarly, he said, even during the election campaign, these leaders travelled up to zero line on the International border on the roads constructed in the last ten years. He added, if they have any conscience, they could have avoided travelling by road and walked on foot as was being done before 2014. 

Singh added that in the last ten years, while three Medical Colleges came up in the constituency there were at least 20 Degree Colleges and nearly a dozen Kendriya Vidyalayas opened in this constituency. 

He said, those opposition leaders and critics who say that this has not happened and there are no such institutions should at least have the conscience not to get their children admitted in these colleges and schools.

The double speak of opposition leaders has become so evident, said Dr Jitendra Singh that even family members of these Congress leaders now have decided to vote for Modi because the benefits of toilets and Gas Cylinders have reached even their households and changed the destiny of their women folk.

Similarly, he said, the children of the Congress leaders are using all the benefits of the StartUp and Digital India initiatives introduced by Prime Minister Modi and therefore, they will also cast their secret vote for Modi.

Appealing to voters to cast their vote in 100 percent, Dr Singh said, we have no opponent and our competition is with ourselves. We have to prove before ourselves that we have put up a better performance than in 2019 when we registered a record margin in J&K by more than 3 Lakh 58 thousand votes.

He said, it is a foregone conclusion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be sworn in as Prime Minister for the third term in June 2024 with 400 plus mandates, but we have to prove to ourselves and to others that this Udhampur-Kathua-Doda constituency also made a substantial contribution in making up the figure of 400 plus.