BJP dares Rahul Gandhi in Congress bastion

Merely three days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to his constituency, BJP national president Amit Shah address a gathering in Amethi along with Union Minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The rally aims at playing up Union minister Smriti Irani’s work for the constituency, who back in 2014, during the Lok Sabha elections lost to Rahul Gandhi from Amethi. BJP now aims at promoting saffron presence in the Congress bastion where it won six of the 10 Assembly seats under the parliamentary constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli. Furthermore, an array of schemes and projects are expected to be announced during the course of the visit by the BJP heavyweights.

During his address in Amethi, BJP national president Amit Shah reiterated his belief that development in the state of Uttar Pradesh only happened once Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath came to power. He directly attacked the Congress party by saying that “there are two models of development, one is Gandhi-Nehru model and the other one is Modi Model.”

Congress ke shehzaade ko puchna chahta hu, Modi Ji ke 3 saal ka hisab mangte ho, Amethi apki 3 peedhiyon ka jawab mangti hai

Amit Shah added that he has visited the state at a time when the “winning candidate has remained absent whereas the runner-up has been frequenting visiting Amethi.” Taking a jibe at the Congress vice-president, Amit Shah said, “Congress is asking what has Modiji done in last 3 years. I would say he has brought 106 yojanas for the common man, poor and women. We have a PM who can speak unlike yours. Our soldiers took revenge with a surgical strike. Remove your Italian specs, Rahul Gandhi” The BJP national president assured Amethi that in 2019, “when we will ask votes for BJP it will be on development.”

On speaking about the UP CM, Amit Shah said the CM aims at making Uttar Pradesh a development-oriented state. “We have opened a bank account of every poor, toilets and electricity is reaching everywhere,” he said. Targeting Rahul Gandhi, he added that, “I want to tell him that people know how you have destroyed Amethi”

Watch Amit Shah’s complete address

While addressing the rally, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “We got a historic mandate because of the leadership of Amit Shah. We assure people of Amethi on behalf of UP govt that we are very much committed. We will work for the development of each and every person of the state.

Taking a jibe at the Congress party he said that the previous government (in the Centre and State), never paid any heed to Amethi's problems. Now the government has changed, BJP is in power in both Centre and State, we will bring about change and development, the CM added. Speaking on Smriti Irani’s visit, he added, “Smriti has proved that she is the sister of Amethi and has worked a lot for here.”

He also assured the people of Amethi that, the conspiracy by “'Jija' (Brother-in-law) and 'Beta' (Son) to a land grab for Samrat Cycles, under the Rajiv Gandhi foundation's name, will not be allowed in the state.”

Watch Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's complete address

Prior to the address by Amit Shah and CM Adityanath, Union Minister Smriti Irani addressed the gathering and said, "Amethi has embraced both BJP and me." Launching a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi, she said, “Rahul Gandhi goes across the nation and speaks about development but he hasn't done any development here.” She further questioned, “Rahul Ji doesn't know the difference between relay transmitter and FM station. How can this person be an MP and how can he carry out development?”

Watch Union Minister Smriti Irani’s complete address