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‘Modi will continue to lead nation’: Shah dismisses Kejriwal’s retirement remark

Amit Shah on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to serve at the country’s top post after the Lok Sabha elections and complete his term

Updated on: May 12, 2024, 07:43:41 IST
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Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to serve at the country’s top post after the Lok Sabha elections and complete his term, as he dismissed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s statement that Modi will step away from politics next year after he turns 75.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hyderabad on Saturday. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Hyderabad on Saturday. (ANI)

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader also said there was no reason for the Opposition to rejoice when Modi turns 75 years.

“I will like to tell Arvind Kejriwal and company and the whole INDI Alliance, that there is no need for you to feel happy when Modi turns 75... Modi will complete the term and will continue to lead the country till 2029. There is no confusion in the BJP on this,” he said.

The home minister’s remarks came hours after Kejriwal, who was released on interim bail by the Supreme Court in the excise policy case on Friday, said that Modi was seeking votes for Shah as he himself was due to retire from active politics next year.

“These [BJP] people ask INDIA bloc about our (PM) face. I ask BJP, who will be their PM? Modi ji is turning 75 next year. He had made the rule that people aged 75 will be retired…He (Modi) will retire next year. He is seeking votes to make Amit Shah the Prime Minister. Will Shah fulfill Modi ji’s guarantee?” he said.

Shah, however, dismissed the statement, saying: “It is not written anywhere in the BJP’s constitution [that a person will retire after the age of 75].”

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Defence minister Rajnath Singh also hit out at Kejriwal over his remarks said the Opposition bloc and its members were rattled because of their impending defeat in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

“The entire NDA alliance, including the BJP, is fighting this Lok Sabha election under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he will become the prime minister for the third time and complete his term. There is no doubt about this neither within the BJP nor within the NDA nor in the minds of the countrymen,” he posted on X.

During his address in Hyderabad, Shah also said that the BJP will emerge as the single-largest party across southern India. “On the day of the results, the BJP will emerge as the single largest party in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala,” he said.

  • Srinivasa Rao Apparasu
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

    Srinivasa Rao is Senior Assistant Editor based out of Hyderabad covering developments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana . He has over three decades of reporting experience.

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