Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the Congress and its alliance partners of giving Jharkhand only “dhool, dhuan, dhokha” – dust, smoke, and cheating. Modi, who addressed an election rally in Dhanbad district, said parties such as the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha left residents in huts even as they themselves “built palaces” using the coal extracted from mines.

“Congress and its partners don’t have public interest in their dictionary, they worked only in their own interest and family interest,” the prime minister claimed. “This is why Dhanbad and this entire area has as much poverty as it has richness of coal mines.”

Modi said he had never cared about vote bank politics, PTI reported. “The Congress had deliberately kept the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute hanging for decades,” he said. “Matters of national interest are secondary for them.”

The prime minister alleged that the Opposition party “had also kept the issue of Jharkhand’s creation pending for five decades”. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government created Jharkhand, he added.

Modi claimed the entire country has a lot of faith in the Bharatiya Janata Party because it is the only party that acts on its promises. He cited examples of farmer pensions, the formation of the Jal Shakti ministry, the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, the passage of the triple talaq bill, and the resolution of the Ayodhya land dispute.

The third phase of the Assembly elections was under way in 17 constituencies of Jharkhand on Thursday. The fourth and the fifth phases of polling for 15 and 16 seats, respectively, will be held on December 16 and December 20. Results will be declared on December 23.