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Lok Sabha elections 2019: ‘Sam Pitroda can flirt with Pakistan, but India will reply bullets with mortars’, says Amit Shah
BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday attacked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s advisor Sam Pitroda for advocating peace talks with Pakistan.
BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday attacked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s advisor Sam Pitroda for advocating peace talks with Pakistan and said India would not flirt with the neighbouring country.
At an election rally in Belgaon area of Ganjam’s Polasara assembly constituency, Shah said after the terror attack on CRPF jawans at Pulwama there was mourning. “Of the 40 jawans who were killed in Pulwama attack, 2 were from Odisha. There was anger in the country. Everyone was thinking what would happen now. But on 12th day after the Pulwama attack, Modiji did airstrike on terrorists hideouts in Pakistan,” he said.
Shah said though entire country was garlanding the photos of the CRPF martyrs and distributing sweets, there was mourning in Congress camp apart from Pakistan. “Rahul baba was crestfallen. Rahul’s team was against air strike. His guru Sam Pitroda was against the air strike and he asked what would India gain? He said we should talk to Pakistan. I want to tell Sam Pitroda that he can continue to flirt but we would reply with mortars if bullets are fired from the other side,” he said, adding apart from Modi, no other leader can keep India secure.
The BJP chief said he hears chants of Modi wherever he goes. “The people of the country have decided to make Modi PM again. The country has been divided into two factions. On one hand BJP and NDA faction has been readying to make Modi PM again. On the other side an alliance led by Rahul baba has been readying to gain power. I ask Rahul every day please tell me name of your leader, but he is not ready to tell. When I ask him who will be his leader if his alliance gets majority, he is not able to tell. How would he say when he does not know the name?” said Shah.
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He also attacked chief minister Naveen Patnaik accusing his bureaucrats of embezzling money sent by the Centre. “Narendra Modi sent Rs 5.56 lakh crore to Odisha in last 5 years. All the money was gobbled up by babus of Naveen,” he alleged.
Patnaik, however, launched a counter-attack during his election campaign in Rayagada and Gajapati districts and accused the Centre of neglecting Odisha.
“All central leaders are ‘Biradi Baishnab’ (hypocrites). For the poor people, the Centre has no feeling. We have AAHAR scheme which the Centre refused to fund. The State government has been funding the programme entirely on its own. We are also running the Rs 1 a kg rice scheme. Centre refused to give rice to 30 lakh people. In addition to that, women are getting Rs 7 lakh worth health benefits under Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana. For drinking water, Centre is giving Rs 1000 crore but State is giving Rs 12,000 cr. For irrigation, State is giving Rs 20,000 crore and Centre is giving only Rs 250 crore,” he said.
In the 2014 LoK Sabha elections, the BJD won 20 of the state’s 21 seats while the BJP won only one.
