In his first poll campaign in Bihar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing a public meeting took a dig at the claims of BJP of winning more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha election. He said that BJP will not cross more than 150 seats.
Mr. Gandhi also lashed out at the BJP and RSS for allegedly destroying the constitution of India.
Lok Sabha election 2024 updates April 20, 2024
He said this on April 20 while speaking in a rally in favour of Congress candidate Ajit Sharma who is locked in a direct contest against sitting Janata Dal-(United) MP Ajay Kumar Mandal.
“The BJP leaders are continuously claiming that they will be winning more than 400 seats this election. Let me say this that BJP will not get more than 150 seats. Let them say anything, they will not get even a single seat above 150,” Mr. Gandhi said while addressing the crowd at Sandis Ground of Bhagalpur.
He further said, “Today there is an election in the country to save democracy and the constitution. — On one side there is Congress Party and INDIA alliance, which is engaged in saving the constitution and democracy — On the other side are RSS-BJP, who are destroying the constitution and democracy. Whatever the poor people of India have got till date, they have got it from the constitution and if the constitution is abolished, everything will be taken away from the poor.”
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar Congress Chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh and Bihar Congress in-charge Mohan Prakash were present on the stage.
Mr. Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused him of handing over the country’s wealth to a few industrialists.
He alleged that there are 22 people in the country having the wealth equal to 70 crore Indians. He also claimed that 70 crore people in the country have income less than ₹100 and the country’s wealth is given to Ambani and Adani.
“Narendra Modi ji has waived-off the loan of ₹16 lakh crore to 20 to 25 people. This amount is equal to waiving-off the loans of farmers 25 times which we did in our period. INDIA alliance of Congress and RJD have decided that the amount which Narendra Modi ji gave to the industrialists, the same amount we will give to the poor,” Mr. Gandhi said.
The Congress leader also held Mr. Modi responsible for unemployment in the country claiming that he has made India as the centre of unemployment.
Bhagalpur was once a stronghold of the Congress party, however the communal riots of 1989 made a huge impact on the Silk city and it became a stronghold of other parties like BJP and JD-(U). Congress party has got Bhagalpur seat after a long gap of 20 years. The last time Congress had won the seat was in 1984.
Mr. Gandhi appealed to the people to vote for the five candidates of INDIA alliance present on the stage which includes — three Congress candidates and two RJD candidates. Bima Bharti and Jai Prakash Yadav from Purnea and Banka seat of RJD whereas Ajeet Sharma, Tariq Anwar and Mohammad Javed from Bhagalpur, Katihar and Kishanganj of Congress. All five seats will go for voting in the second phase on 26 April
