Congress-SP combine wiped out in rst phase: Amit Shah in Mathura
On one side is Narendra Modi who was born in a poor family, on the other is Rahul baba, born with a silver spoon; you have to decide between the two, the Union Home Minister tells voters
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday claimed that the Congress-Samajwadi Party (SP) combine was wiped out in the rst phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh as he took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, calling them “princes”. Polling for eight seats of Saharanpur, Bijnor, Kairana, Muza arnagar, Nagina (reserved), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit was held on Friday.
Addressing an election rally in support of BJP candidate Hema Malini in Vrindavan, Mr. Shah said, “Let me tell you the result of the rst phase, don’t tell it to anyone — Congress, SP have been wiped out.” He was responding to the SP chief’s claim at another rally that the people had rejected the BJP.
Mr. Shah said, “On the one hand, we have the Congress and SP, both of which are involved in scams and corruption worth lakhs of crores, and on the other hand, there is Narendra Modi, who despite being a Chief Minister for 23 years, is not guilty of corruption of even a penny.”
He added, “There are two camps. On one side is our leader Narendra Modi who was born in a poor family and on the other side is Rahul baba who was born with a silver spoon. You have to decide between the two.”
Taking a jibe at Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Yadav, the Union Home Minister said, “In 2017, two princes had come together … They have come together in 2024 as well, (but) BJP will win maximum seats in Uttar Pradesh.”
Mr. Shah claimed that in 2014, before BJP came to power, people were migrating from western Uttar Pradesh. “The SP goons were harassing people. Then you chose Yogiji to form the government in 2017 and now the same goons are ¨eeing.” Giving credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and removal of Article 370 in Kashmir, he said, “When the consecration ceremony was taking place, Congress and SP were invited. But to appease their vote bank, they did not go for the ‘pran pratishtha’ in Ayodhya.”
Before heading for Mathura, addressing rallies in Rajasthan, Mr. Shah claimed that the Congress wanted to remove the ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI).
He attacked the Opposition for claiming that the BJP was seeking to win 400 seats to change the Constitution. He said, “When Congress got a majority, they used it to impose Emergency. We got the majority in 2014 and 2019, we used it to remove Article 370, to build Ram temple, bring CAA, give reservation to women...”
“The Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project was not allowed to move forward by the Ashok Gehlot government for ve years, but the Bhajan Lal government has taken it forward in these months,” Mr. Shah said. He expressed condence that Rajasthan was going to give all 25 Lok Sabha seats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the third time.
In the second phase on April 26, voting will be held in Mathura, Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, and Aligarh.