Centre, states must work together for India’s progress: PM Modi

This means there is new energy and faith in states to walk along with the Centre on the path of development, the Prime Minister said.

More than 280 people have been killed and thousands of residents displaced as the south-eastern state continues to experience its heaviest rainfall in a century.

India’s state-run Press Information Bureau is facing online mockery after tweeting an edited image of PM Narendra Modi surveying deadly Chennai floods. “The good news is that Parliament is running”, he said, and hastened to add”, the credit does not go to Modi but to all the parties”. “If we walk together shoulder to shoulder then results will automatically come”, he said.

The prime minister spoke about various initiatives taken by his government, including promoting LED lights in 100 cities, targeted subsidies and changing work culture in the public sector to turn it around, to push development and save money. Look closely at the window PM Modi is looking out of.

“I reviewed them and I can tell you this that about 60-65 projects have started working satisfactorily”.

He made a special mention of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, and said how these states, which never usually discussed, have done well in the “Ease of Doing Business” rankings.

He said, “Even after 70 years of freedom, India has 18,000 villages which do not have even an electricity pole”.