Refuting allegations that the Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to destabilize the Congress government in Rajasthan, Union home minister Amit Shah said the party had no such intention, expressing confidence that BJP will surely form the next government in the state with a strong mandate.
“They are always in fear that their government will collapse. Who is going to topple the government? No one,” Shah said at a gathering of the BJP state lawmakers on Sunday. “BJP will never topple your government. BJP will go to the masses and will come to power with a strong mandate in 2023.”
Attacking the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government over various issues such as poor law and order situation, corruption, unemployment and misgovernance, Shah called upon party workers to oust the Congress government from power. “Once again, we have to oust the useless and corrupt Gehlot government in Rajasthan and bring BJP to the power with a two-thirds majority,” he said.
“If you think that your government is working well, then elections in Uttar Pradesh are also coming,” Shah said. “Get elections in Rajasthan also done along with it…you will get to know what the public wants. We want that you complete your tenure till 2023 and work for the people.”
Although former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Congress gave a call of garibi hatao in the seventies, the work to eliminate poverty was started after Narendra Modi’s government came to power in 2014, Shah said. “Congress only worked to remove the poor instead of poverty,” the federal home minister said. “It was the Modi government which worked for the upliftment of the poor, and provided electricity, gas connections, toilets and pucca houses in rural households,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Although former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Congress gave a call of garibi hatao in the seventies, the work to eliminate poverty was started after Narendra Modi’s government came to power in 2014, Shah said. “Congress only worked to remove the poor instead of poverty,” the federal home minister said. “It was the Modi government which worked for the upliftment of the poor, and provided electricity, gas connections, toilets and pucca houses in rural households,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Shah called upon BJP workers to mount pressure on the Gehlot government to reduce taxes. He alleged that the Gehlot government has shuttered many welfare programmes of the previous Vasundhara Raje government and is creating obstacles in the implementation of central schemes.
“The Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan is invisible,” former chief minister Vasundhara Raje said at the event. “The law and order and government, both are invisible in the state. The government is completing three years, but not a single work is visible.”
“The BJP will win assembly elections in 2023 and all 25 Lok Sabha seats in 2024 (national elections),” said BJP state chief Satish Poonia .
Commenting on Shah’s visit, state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasara said BJP’s claim of returning to power with a two-thirds majority was a pipe dream. “They are arrogant. It was visible during the welcome of Shah, when he didn’t even look at party workers,” he said.
The central government and BJP have only one agenda, that of dividing the people in name of religion, Dotasara said.
Dotasara claimed that Shah was ill-informed as the Rajasthan government has already reduced state levies on petrol and diesel.