Ahmedabad: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had been frequently changing constituencies because of the fear of losing elections.
The problem is not with the constituencies, but with Rahul Gandhi himself, he will face defeat wherever he goes,” Sha said while addressing an election rally campaign rally in Gujarat’s Bodeli.
His comments came a day after Gandhi filed his nomination from Congress stronghold Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. Gandhi has decided to shift to Rae Bareli to continue the family’s connection in the party’s only bastion in Uttar Pradesh.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gandhi had contested from the Amethi and Wayanad seats. While he won from Wayanad, he lost the Amethi seat to Union minister Smriti Irani.
He used to contest elections from Amethi but, after losing to Smriti Irani, he ran to Wayanad. Now, facing challenges in Wayanad, he has moved on to Raebareli,” Shah said.
He (Rahul) lost in Amethi to Smriti Irani and ran to Wayanad. Now, fearing defeat in Wayanad, he is also contesting from Rae Bareli. Rahul Baba, the problem is not with the seat but with you. You are going to lose Rae Bareli by a huge margin”, said Shah.
Shah further slammed the INDIA alliance’s “rotation formula” for the prime ministerial post, urging voters not to “hand over power to a divisive party”.
If the INDIA alliance were to win, they would not even have a capable PM candidate, Shah said.
“The BJP has a clear face. If we win, Narendra Modi will be our PM. But if the INDIA alliance wins, who will be the PM? Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, Stalin, Uddhav Thackeray, or Rahul Gandhi?”
Dismissing the idea of running a partnership firm, Shah expressed doubts over the alliance’s ability to handle crises like COVID-19 or terrorism in Kashmir with a rotating premiership.
“Can this arrogant alliance keep the country safe after rotating the PM’s term between them for one year each? Will they be able to save Kashmir from terrorists?” he asked.
Shah further accused the Congress of attempting to “divide the country into North and South India and said, “They cannot be given power.” He also refuted opposition claims about the BJP’s stance on reservations, labelling them as “lies”.
“Modi had a full majority in 2014 and 2019. But he never touched the reservation meant for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. This is Modi’s guarantee that till the BJP is in power, no one can touch reservation,” Shah said.
Shah argued that this is a question concerning India’s future, not a business that the mother, son, or daughter can run in turns each year and emphasised that the entire country has decided to support and re-elect Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.