Pathanamthitta (Kerala), April 4 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday described Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the Thiruvalla Assembly constituency, Anoop Antony Joseph, as his "right-hand man". The Prime Minister also mentioned that Joseph has been working with him for the last five years.
Addressing an election rally ahead of the April 9 Assembly election in the state, PM Modi said, "Kerala will benefit from this election, even though I will be losing from it. You may wonder what will benefit Kerala while disadvantaging Modi. Yes, I am going to experience a personal loss."
Referring to the BJP candidate, the Prime Minister said, "Anoop Antony Joseph, who is contesting this election from here (Thiruvalla), has been working with me for the past five years. He gets information by travelling across the country. In a way, he has been a dedicated companion of mine. He has become my right-hand man for such works."
Anoop Antony Joseph was the former National Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). Currently, he is one of the general secretaries of the BJP in Kerala.
Prime Minister Modi said that many people might not know that Joseph has been working with him for so many years.
"He (Anoop Antony Joseph) never speaks about it. I have known about his working style," he added.
The Prime Minister also praised Joseph for his 'dedication'.
"He (Anoop Antony Joseph) works silently and dedicatedly day in and out."
PM Modi also highlighted that by working with a young man like Joseph, he could carry out a lot of work.
"But when I saw that Keralam will benefit from the works of this young man, I thought that even though I will be at a loss, today I have come here to hand over Anoop to you (the people of Kerala)," the Prime Minister said.
Meanwhile, emphasizing that Kerala has never had a BJP government, PM Modi underlined at the public gathering that the Central government has been carrying out development works in the state.
"With your blessings and the support of the people of the country, we are leaving no stone unturned in Keralam's development through the Central government," he said.
Drawing a comparison with the Congress-led UPA government, the Prime Minister noted that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has sent more aid to Kerala.
"The NDA government has sent five times more funds to Keralam compared to the amount of aid sent to the state when Congress was in power in Delhi, and both the LDF (Left Democratic Front) and UDF (United Democratic Front) were running the government here," PM Modi asserted.