Noida: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday kickstarted her campaign for the BJP candidates, and urged voters to ensure a second term for sitting Gautam Budh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma Swaraj was addressing a meeting of party workers from Noida, Greater Noida, Dadri, Jewar, Bulandshahr and Meerut at Amity University. Apart from Sharma, others present at the meet included current MLAs Pankaj Singh, Dhirendra Singh and Tejpal Nagar, and former UP ministers Nawab Singh Nagar and Vedram Bhati.Swaraj told the workers she had come to account for the work done by the government. “Loktantra mein ek baar vote mangein, toh agli baar hisab deke vote mangein (after voting once, one should take account of the work done and then vote the second time around). Today, I’ve come to give hisab (account) of the Union government,” said Swaraj.She stressed that people should vote on three counts – security, development and public welfare works undertaken by the government.“All development work and policies have been formed keeping in mind all strata of society – the poor, the backward, middle class, youth and senior citizens – be it Kaushal Vikas Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana, (schemes for) girl child and farmers,” said Swaraj. She emphasised that the surgical strikes in the aftermath of the Uri and Pulwama attacks and the safe return of IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman were possible “only because of the strong leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.“As regards national security, we have already seen the results after Pulwama which gave us major diplomatic victory over Pakistan,” Swaraj told party cadres.She said India had grown in stature in international circles, and cited the refusal of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to rescind its invitation to India that forced Pakistan to skip the meeting of the grouping.Swaraj praised Sharma, the Gautam Budh MP, for the area’s “turnaround” in the last five years and cited projects such as Jewar airport, Delhi-Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, Khurja thermal power project and metro connectivity.The opposition SP-BSP countered Swaraj’s claim, saying that these projects were conceived or launched during their governments.Satveer Nagar, the BSP-SP alliance candidate for Gautam Budh Nagar seat, said, “Infra projects, including airport, flyovers, underpasses, were envisioned and launched during governments of BSP and SP…. What has the present BJP government done in the name of development for the district other than mere ribbon-cutting?”

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