Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
Credit: PTI Photos
Mumbai: Rahul Gandhi will further push the Congress party in a ditch, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said rebutting the claims of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha that the 2024 Assembly polls in the western Indian state was rigged - which sparked off a major political issue in India.
“The people have rejected Rahul Gandhi, and in retaliation, he is rejecting the people and their mandate. This will only push the Congress party further into a ditch. He needs to introspect on why his own party’s MLAs make statements challenging anyone to get an appointment with him within a day,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis’ statement came in the form of an article that he wrote in newspapers, which appeared on Sunday.
“He must be mindful of which direction he is taking the country and what poison he is spreading by constantly raising doubts about the democratic process and constitutional institutions,” said Fadnavis, a veteran BJP leader with RSS background.
“His “article” deserves to be ignored, but it operates on a principle: If you can’t convince people, confuse them. That is precisely what Rahul Gandhi is repeatedly doing. Therefore, we must continue to present the facts to the public. Of course, it is a separate matter that he is already preparing his excuses for future defeats in the upcoming assembly elections, including Bihar,” said Fadnavis, a third-term CM, who had also been Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly.
Fadnavis, who is also the state Home Minister, came down heavily on the two marches that Gandhi had undertaken before the 2024 polls.
“As far as the Maharashtra elections are concerned, it was not fundamentally a contest between the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi. There was another factor: The Bharat Jodo Abhiyaan. What was this “todo” (break) campaign, established under the name of “jodo” (unite), doing? It was creating misconceptions among the public against all of the country’s constitutional institutions, thereby inciting them to fight against the nation itself. This includes the judiciary and the Election Commission, etc,” he said, pointing out that many of the participants were listed as “urban Naxal” entities in 2012 by the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
“From 1950 until a new law was enacted, your Congress government directly appointed the Chief Election Commissioner! Out of 26 commissioners to date, 25 were directly appointed by the central government. For the first time, the Honourable Modi ji established a committee that includes the Leader of the Opposition or the leader of the largest political party. But it seems you do not approve of this step, which strengthens democracy and was a principle never followed during your time,” he said.
Dwelling on voter registration, he said: “If you want the data on how the number of voters increased in between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, here it is: In 2004, 5 per cent more in the Assembly elections than in the Lok Sabha polls. In 2009, 4 per cent more; in 2014, 3 per cent more; in 2019, 1 per cent more; and in 2024, 4 per cent more. So again, nothing new happened in 2024.”