"Congress afraid of vote bank": Amit Shah hits out at opposition in public rally

Pratapgarh (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 12 : Union Minister Amit Shah on Sunday came down heavily on the Congress and claimed that the opposition parties, including the grand old party, are "scared" of their votebank and that is why they did not attend the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Lord Ram Lalla in Ayodhya.
Addressing a public gathering here in Kaushambi, Pratapgarh district, Amit Shah said, "For 70 years, Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) kept the Ram Temple subject stuck, hanging and wandering. Then came along Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who won the Ayodhya Ram Temple case, performed the bhoomipujan, and then participated in the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Shri Ram Lalla, all in a span of five years."
"The Pran Pratishtha ceremony was about to take place and an invitation was sent to Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Dimple Yadav, and Akhilesh Yadav, but none of them turned up for the ceremony because they (Opposition, including Congress) are afraid of their vote bank," said Shah.
But Shah said that the BJP is not scared of anyone.
"Not only Ram Mandir, PM Modi has also built the Kashi Vishwanath corridor, which was destroyed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, and the Somnath Temple. PM Modi has revived all our 'Shraddha Kendra,' added Shah.
Taking a jab at the INDIA bloc, Amit Shah said that if the INDI alliance were to win, who would become the Prime Minister. Would it be Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray, MK Stalin or Rahul Gandhi," he said mockingly towards the gathering.
"One of their leaders said that our leaders will become PM turn by turn. I would like to say to Rahul Baba that this is not a grocery store, it is the matter of the entire Bharat, country and it does not work this way," said Shah.
The BJP leader further said, "Mallikarjun Kharge says that people of UP and Rajasthan don't have anything to do with Kashmir. The Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP were taking care of Article 370 in Kashmir like its illegitimate child."
"You made PM Modi Prime Minister for the second time, he ended Article 370. He ended terrorism in Kashmir and made it an integral part of India. These two 'Shehzade' Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi say that when they form the government, they will reintroduce Article 370. Do you agree that Article 370 should be reintroduced?" questioned Amit Shah at the gathering.
Meanwhile, addressing a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli, Union Home Minister Amit Shah attacked Congress leaders for not visiting the constituency after winning the seat.
"Priyanka Gandhi said in her speech that I am here to seek votes from my family. I want to ask her 5 questions today. After winning, how many times did Sonia Gandhi and her family come to see you? Sonia Gandhi usually has health issues but what about Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi? There have been several unfortunate incidents in the constituency in the past few years but did the Gandhi family ever turn up?" said Shah.
'Shehzada' is asking for votes here. You all have been voting for them all these years but did you get something from the MP's fund? But she has spent all the funds. If you didn't get it, where has it gone? It has gone to their 'vote bank' and you people are not her vote bank. Sonia Gandhi, they spent more than 70 per cent of funds on minorities," added the BJP leader.
Notably, the Congress fielded KL Sharma, replacing Rahul Gandhi, on the last day of filing nominations in Amethi on May 3.
Gandhi, who has been winning from Amethi since 2004, lost to Irani in the 2019 parliamentary polls. The Congress has fielded the former Amethi MP from Raebareli.
Raebareli constituency goes to the polls on May 20. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi won the constituency, bagging 534,918 votes. Her closest rival, Dinesh Pratap Singh, put up a formidable challenge, gathering 367,740 votes.
Before Sonia, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had won Raebareli three times. The constituency also elected Indira's husband and Congress leader, Feroze Gandhi, twice, in 1952 and 1957.
Rahul Gandhi is a sitting MP in Kerala's Wayanad, where he is seeking a fresh term alongside Raebareli.
Rahul represented Amethi from 2004 until 2019. He will face BJP leader and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh in Raebareli.