Union Minister of Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday made an open appeal to voters to bring a ‘double-engine government’ in upcoming assembly polls to ensure change in the future of Rajasthan.

Speaking before the launch of the fourth phase of BJP’s Parivartan Sankalp Yatra here at Gogaji Maharaj Samadhi-Sthal in the Hanumangarh district, Gadkari said, “Decide once, bring a double-engine government to change the future of Rajasthan and ensure better prospects for farmers and labourers, and plenty of jobs for youth.”

“I request to you (the public) to change the future of the country and Rajasthan with the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President JP Nadda. Come and support the BJP to see the new sun rise of development and blooming lotus,” he added.

“What I say, I do it, and that happens too. I see farmers are committing suicide. The darkness will disappear, new sun will rise as the lotus bloom again,” he said in an emotionally charged appeal without naming the place and state where farmers were committing suicide.

Commenting on farmers’ hardship in growing wheat, millet, and corn every year but not getting good returns due to fluctuating prices and output from farmlands, Gadkari said, “This is the time for diversification of agriculture towards energy and power.”

He said the biggest issue of farmers today is irrigation to their fields. “If a farmer gets water, he will irrigate his fields, this way he will double the profit. Farmers will become rich and prosperous. Today, due to the Indira Gandhi Canal, eight districts of the state are getting water. The water scheme work has been stuck since 1970”, he added.

He also highlighted his ministry’s contribution to Rajasthan in the last nine years saying, “About 6,300-kilometer long roads were constructed in the state at a cost of Rs 50 thousand crore. About 2,531 km of highways were built at a cost of Rs 35,000 crore. By 2024, there will be no road work left in Rajasthan”.

In a video that went viral in favour of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Gadkari said in a few gestures: Remember the old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule. Today, when I went to the temple, the priests and devotees were asking who built this temple. My colleague Lok Sabha MP Rahul Kaswan said Raje had spent Rs 100 crore on the temple.

Gadkari further said, “By electing once two 500 crore will be developed and the entire temple complex will be developed in a campus”.

However, in her speech, Raje did say, “Four dozen farmers had committed suicide in Rajasthan during the Gehlot government’s tenure. The present government came to power by announcing loan waivers and leaving aside loan waivers, it confiscated the lands of 19 thousand farmers. The farmers here need water, instead of giving water to the farmers, water is being sold in Haryana for Rs 1200 per hour”.

Later, Gadkari flagged off the Yatra from Gogameri which will cover 2128 km in 50 assembly constituencies of Bikaner Division and Jhunjhunu, Sikar, and Alwar districts.