Coimbatore, Mar 8 (PTI) CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury Friday alleged that the Election Commission was deliberately delaying the announcement of the Lok Sabha election dates to favour the ruling BJP.
Addressing a public meeting here tonight, he said that in 2014, the EC had announced the date as March 5 for the general elections.
But despite the date being March 8, the Commission was yet to announce the dates.
"It is being deliberately delayed for BJP's election campaign, for which the party is using public money," he alleged.
"Modi says he is the Chowkidar (Watchman) of the country.
But this chowkidar has failed to protect the country and made it worse than ever," Yechury said.
Lauding the Indian Air Force strike at Balakot in Pakistan, he alleged that Modi was politicising the achievement for 'petty electoral gains.'
He said the 10 year UPA rule had seen 109 terror attacks, while it was 626 in the five year tenure of Modi.
In UPA-II, 139 soldiers were killed in terror attacks and this number had shot up to 483 under the Modi government, Yechury said.
He alleged that Modi had not fulfilled his promises on providing jobs and nearly 1.10 crore youth remained unemployed last year.
Also, a large number of small and medium scale industries were forced to close down following demonetization and implementation of Goods and Services Tax, he said.
