Amit Shah vows to drive out Bangladeshi ''infiltrators'

Amid a raging debate on the National Register for Citizens (NRC) in Assam, BJP national president Amit Shah on Sunday vowed to ''drive out'' all Bangladeshi ''infiltrators'' from the country.

He expressed confidence that the saffron party will return to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

After attending a function organised for renaming the iconic Mughalsarai railway station after Deen Daya Upadhyaya, BJP's co-founder, Shah addressed a public meeting at Mughalsarai, about 300 kilometres from Lucknow.

In his address, he asked Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to make his stand clear on the NRC issue.

''Rahul Gandhi should clearly state whether he wants the Bangladeshi intruders to remain in the country... I have been asking him to respond but he does not,'' Shah said.

He also said that the people of Uttar Pradesh were in favour of driving out the Bangladeshi ''infiltrators''.

''Even if Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress join hands, they will not be able to stop the BJP from returning to power in 2019... We will increase our tally in Uttar Pradesh,'' he said.

Shah, in an apparent bid to make a dent into the Opposition's OBC vote bank, sought to know from the Congress whether it will support the Bill granting constitutional status to the OBC Commission in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP president exhorted the people to support the saffron party in the next general elections.