Raebareli/Pratapgarh: Union Home Minister and BJP star campaigner Amit Shah on Sunday launched a blistering attack on senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, accusing her of 'spending more than 70 per cent of her MP funds on minorities' and 'blocking' the development of the Lok Sabha constituency.
"The 'shahzada' (prince) [Rahul Gandhi] has come here to seek votes. You have been voting for many years. Have you received anything from the MP fund? If you have not received it, then where did it go? It went to their vote bank. Sonia Gandhi has spent more than 70 per cent of the MP funds on minorities," Shah claimed while addressing an election meeting at Raebareli in support of his party nominee Dinesh Pratap Singh.
Intensifying his attack, he said, "This Gandhi family is an expert in lying. They are now promising Rs 1 lakh for every woman. In the Telangana (assembly) elections, they had said that they would give Rs 15,000 to every woman. The women of the state elected them (Congress) ... Forget about Rs 15,000, they did not even give Rs 1,500."
"Many people here told me that this is a family seat... It is true. The people of Raebareli have made the Gandhi and Nehru families win for years. But after getting elected from here, how many times did Sonia Ji and her family come to Raebareli? Okay, Sonia ji's health is not good, but has Rahul baba or sister Priyanka come?"
''Prime minister Narendra Modi has ensured development of the entire Uttar Pradesh but the Gandhi family is not allowing development to enter Raebareli,'' the union minister added.
Shah said that the people of Raebareli have given the Gandhi family a chance to develop the constituency for years but he said 'no development work has been done'. "They (Congress) do not believe in development. They do not even come to you in your happiness and sorrows," he added.
Asking people to vote for BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, the Union minister said, "We will connect Raebareli with Modiji's development journey."
Rahul Gandhi is fighting the Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli — the seat held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades. Sonia had been elected to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, previously. Rahul Gandhi has also been fielded from Wayanad in Kerala.
Shah has questioned Rahul Gandhi's decision to shift from Amethi to Raebareli and said that the Congress leader knew that he would lose Amethi and therefore chose Raebareli.
The BJP leader said that the Gandhi family did not come to Raebareli after winning the seat in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. ''Priyanka Gandhi says that she is seeking support from her family (Raebareli electorate)... but tell us where you were all these years?'' he said.
Shah also referred to the scrapping of Art 370 of the Constitution and slammed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for what he claimed saying that the people of UP had nothing to do with Kashmir.
The absence of rebel Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA from Unchahar Manoj Pandey, who had recently joined the BJP, in the rally, however, sent the tongues wagging. Unchahar is one of the assembly segments under the Raebareli LS seat.
Raebareli will vote in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.
Shah also addressed an election rally in Pratapgarh where he said that Rahul Gandhi can be scared of Pakistan's 'atom bomb' but the BJP is not, and that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belongs to India and "we will take it". He was referring to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan having the atom bomb.
After the rally, Shah visited the residence of Samajwadi Party MLA from Unchahar Manoj Pandey, who on February 27 resigned from the post of the party's chief whip and cross-voted in favour of the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls.
In Pratapgarh, Shah referred to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan and said, "Rahul baba, if you want to be scared of the atom bomb, then be scared, we are not scared. Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belongs to India and we will take it."
In a video, Aiyar has been heard saying that India should give respect to Pakistan as it is a sovereign nation and engage with it as it also possesses the atom bomb. He indicated in the video that if a "mad person" comes to power there and uses the atomic bomb, it will not be good and will have its effect here too.
While Aiyar said the video was old and dredged up now as the BJP's election campaign is faltering, the Congress said it totally disagreed with the remarks made by Aiyar some months ago.
Addressing the rally, Shah said that this time, the people of Kaushambi would have to ensure three hattricks.
"First is to make Narendra Modi the prime minister for the third time. The second hattrick in UP is to completely wipe off the SP, BSP and Congress for the third time and the third hattrick is to make my friend (Vinod) Sonkar the MP for the third time," he said.
Polling in Kaushambi (SC) Lok Sabha seat too will be held in the fifth phase on May 20. I.N.D.I.A. bloc constituent Samajwadi Party's Pushpendra Saroj is the main challenger to the BJP in this seat.
(With PTI inputs)