'94 rallies, 7 roadshows': Rajnath Singh wraps up hectic LS poll campaign

New Delhi [India], May 30 : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh ended his hectic poll campaign as campaigning concluded ahead of the last phase of Lok Sabha elections on Thursday.
Singh addressed a total of 101 election events including 94 rallies and seven roadshows during the election campaign for Lok Sabha polls.
The general elections are being held across seven phases. While the first six phases are over, the seventh and the last phase will be held on June 1. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.
The Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is eyeing a third straight term in office.
During the campaign, Rajnath Singh spoke on multiple issues, highlighting the economic progress under the Modi government. He also attacked the Congress party and the INDIA bloc, saying they had come together only for power.
Highlighting the BJP government's achievement, the Defence Minister said India has become the fifth-largest economy in the world and will become the third-largest economy in PM Modi's third term. He also lauded the government for bringing 25 crore out of poverty.
He tore into the opposition for alleging that the BJP of trying to end reservations and assured the tribal community that no one could end their reservation.
"The opposition falsely accuses the BJP of ending reservation. But I say that I will never let reservations end. I give assurance to the people of the tribal society that no one can end your reservation," Singh at an election rally in Dumka, Jharkhand.
He also refuted the allegations that the BJP is "undermining democracy" and said that it was the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who was involved in toppling the maximum number of state governments while adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not toppled any elected government.
He also mentioned that the President's rule was imposed 90 times in the country under the Congress government.
Addressing a public meeting in Ahmedabad, Rajnath Singh said, "Fundamental rights were suspended. It happened during the Congress rule. For 18 months, we all had to remain behind bars".
"Till now, the President's rule has been imposed in the country 132 times under Article 356. Out of which, it was imposed 90 times under the Congress. Indira (Gandhi) Ji had spent half a century in toppling the governments...and BJP is accused of undermining the democracy," he added.
Rajnath Singh also took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for having chosen Rae Bareli instead of Amethi to contest in the Lok Sabha polls and said that everyone knows what do "we call a person who runs away from the battle in between".
"Rahul Gandhi has left the battleground and ran away to Wayanad. When his party wanted him to contest elections again from Amethi, he chose Rae Bareli. We all know, what to call a person who left battle in between," he said in Haryana's Rohtak.
In another attack on Rahul Gandhi, the Defence Minister said that a leader who is not being praised in his country but is getting applauded by Pakistani leaders, has "no moral right" to do politics.
"Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is being praised in Pakistan, you can't find anyone praising him in India, but a former Pakistan minister has praised him. As per my understanding, if a person who is not praised in his own country but is being praised but other country, that person has no moral right to do politics in India," Singh said in his address in YSR, Andhra Pradesh.
In a separate event, he said that Mahatma Gandhi had asked to "dissolve" Congress after independence, adding that now the public has "decided to fulfil it."
"At the time of independence, Mahatma Gandhi said that Congress should be dissolved but the Congress did not listen to him, so I think that now the public has thought and decided that whatever Mahatma Gandhi had said should be fulfilled. Now we will have to dissolve this Congress, I think the people will also agree to dissolve the Congress," Singh said while addressing an election rally in Delhi.
He also attacked the Aam Aadmi Party over the allegations regarding Delhi liquor policy.
Earlier this week, Singh said that the tagline "aisa koi saga nahi, jisko AAP ne thaga nahi (there is no close person whom AAP has not cheated) perfectly fits AAP.
"AAP has sold liquor in every lane of Delhi," he added.
In April, Rajnath Singh inaugurated his election office at Mahanagar in Lucknow and performed a havan puja there.
Rajnath Singh served as the Home Minister in the BJP government's first tenure and as the Defence Minister in the second tenure. He is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow constituency, a seat from which he has been winning for the last two terms.
The Lucknow constituency voted on May 20 in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
In an address in Lucknow, Singh said that the tasks he could not accomplish during his tenure as the Chief Minister have been achieved under the leadership of CM Yogi Adityanath.
He highlighted that CM Yogi Adityanath's initiatives are now gaining attention not just nationally, but internationally as well.
During earlier phases of the campaign, Rajnath Singh took a dig at the INDIA bloc, using meme terminology and said that the public would do "moye moye" of the alliance in the elections. He said the alliance cannot face the NDA or BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
"Several Opposition parties came together to fight and defeat the BJP. However, you can all see that this is an alliance of convenience of some self-seeking Opposition leaders. However, they can't even face up to the NDA, even if they are united. Iss desh ki janata iska bhi moye moye kar degi (the people will make the Opposition come a cropper in the elections)," the Defence Minister said in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad.
In another jibe at the grand old party, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that the Congress party will go extinct like dinosaurs in a few years."
"Congress is vanishing. These children must have heard of dinosaurs, have you? Have you seen dinosaurs? In a way, dinosaurs have completely disappeared from the earth, similarly, Congress is also disappearing," Singh asserted while addressing the public rally in Champawat, Uttarakhand.
Singh was also present during the launch of BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' at the party headquarters along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on April 14.
Ahead of the launch of the manifesto, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed the gathering of leaders at party headquarters in the national capital and said that the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' presents the roadmap to a self-respecting and capable India with the commitment to the welfare and development of every section of society.
He said that there has never been any difference between BJP's words and deeds, and this credibility is its biggest strength.