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Rae Bareli, April 21
Taking his party's fight against the Congress to the Gandhi family's pocket borough, BJP president Amit Shah said on Saturday his party would rid Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, of 'parivarvad' and take it on the path of development.
Addressing a public meeting here, Shah said Rae Bareli voted for top Congress leaders, but had not witnessed development since Independence.
“Rae Bareli has seen 'parivarvad' (dynastic politics) since Independence and no development...I have come here to make it clear that the BJP will free Rae Bareli of 'parivarvad' and will start the campaign from today itself for taking it on the path of 'vikasvad' (development),” he said.
“The Congress and its top leadership have ruled in Uttar Pradesh and Rae Bareli for years but the 'bhumi pujan' (ground breaking ceremony) of community health centre and primary health centre was carried out only lately and the Yogi Adityanath-led state government has done a lot for the constituency. Now with some Congress leaders here joining the BJP, it is our responsibility to develop it by leaps and bounds," he said.
"We will develop it as an ideal constituency and a model district," he said, in what is apparently BJP's election bugle with next year’s Lok Sabha polls.
He said before Chief Minister Adityanath’s dispensation assumed office, Uttar Pradesh was known for 'goonda raj' and bad law and order, but the BJP state government had “ established the rule of law”.
On acquittal of Swami Aseemanand in the Mecca Masjid blast case earlier this week, he sought to target the Congress over the party's attempts to "defame" Hindus in terror cases.
"I want to ask Rahul 'Baba', your leaders have talked about saffron terrorism. You need to apologise, decide how low you can stoop," he said.
Shah said: “I can say Narendra Modi government will come back with a bigger mandate in 2019”.
Exuding confidence that the BJP will win the Karnataka assembly election, he said: "The BJP will have its 16th state government in the country after May 15".
Though the BJP swept Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 general election, the BJP lost both Rae Bareli and Amethi to the Congress.
Barring three exceptions—1977, 1996 and 1998—Rae Bareli has been a Congress bastion since 1952, and is currently represented in the Lok Sabha by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi represents Amethi.
Earlier, a minor fire broke out at the venue of the public meeting, triggering panic and commotion in the audience.
The fire, which was brought under control in short time, broke out due to an electrical short-circuit near the media enclosure, officials said.
State BJP chief Mahendranath Pandey was addressing the gathering when smoke and sparks were noticed. Both Shah and Adityanath were on the dais at the time of the incident. PTI
BJP, Amit Shah, rally, Rae Bareli, Adityanath, fire
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