Kota (Rajasthan), Apr 10 (PTI) Lok Sabha Speaker and BJP candidate from the Kota? parliamentary seat Om Birla on Wednesday said the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an election issue this time as the people of the country have trust in his leadership.

Birla also brushed aside attack on him by the Congress for disqualifying Rahul Gandhi from membership of the Parliament saying he had no role and authority to expel someone as the Parliament functions on its rules and regulations.

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Birla held a brief interaction with PTI after paying tribute to former Jan Sangh parliamentarian Onkarlal Bairwa on his death anniversary at his residence in Kota city's Nayapura area on Wednesday.

Responding to a query, three-time MLA and two-time MP Birla said the leadership of Prime minister Narendra Modi is an election issue this time and people have trust in his working style and the way he worked to "transform" the country.

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On development and progress in his parliamentary area during his tenure as an MP, Birla claimed projects like the new national highways passing through the area, setting up of passport office, upgradation of railway stations and several others were carried out in his area.

Referring to the airport in Kota, a longstanding demand of people, Birla said if the previous state Congress government had allotted funds in time, the airport in Kota would have got operational by this time.

As soon as the BJP government was formed in the state, the state government allotted the required funds and work for the airport will start soon, he said mentioning PM Modi had promised for the airport in the recent assembly election campaign in Kota after formation of the BJP government in the state.

On the question of Rahul Gandhi's expulsion from membership of the Parliament during his tenure as the Speaker, Birla said he had no role and authority to expel him as the Parliament functions as per the rules and regulations and no other leader, even of the opposition, had ever raised question on this ruling in the Parliament.

Remembering former parliamentarian of Jan Sangh in 1952 Onkarlal Bairwa on his death anniversary, Birla said the Jan Sangh and BJP had a long history in Hadouti and lakhs of workers from these parties toiled hard to nurture the parties.

On contesting against his former party colleague Prahalad Gunjal, who is fighting the election on the Congress ticket, Birla said everyone has the right to contest election against anyone and people understand it well what Gunjal had said three months ago when he was contesting the state assembly election against Shanti Dhariwal of the Congress and what he is saying now.

Birla later left for his election campaign in the Indergarh area in the Bundi district.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)