Kanhaiya takes dig at BJP over changing CMs in Gujarat

'People say that Modi has no one for whom he will indulge in theft. But, not everyone in BJP is Modi' said Kumar

Firebrand Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Tuesday while campaigning for his party colleague Jignesh Mevani in Vadgam, Banaskantha district, took a swipe at BJP over changing Gujarat Chief Ministers in quick successions and claimed that "who knows the next could be Jay Shah", the son of union home minister Amit Shah.

"Today, journalists asked me who is the Congress's Chief Minister face in Gujarat. I told them that our Chief Minister will be decided after people give us their blessings. So far, they have not blessed us. But, BJP can make anyone a Chief Minister. Bhupendra Patel was sleeping when he found out that he would be the next Chief Minister. There are videos in which he is seen as sleepy. Rupani saheb didn't know that he wouldn’t get an MLA ticket. Who gets to decide this? What is the guarantee of who will be the next Chief Minister? The way rules were altered for appointing BCCI secretary, it may happen that Jay Shah would be the one. People know it," Kanhaiya Kumar said while addressing a gathering in Vadgam along with Mevani before he filed a nomination for contesting from the Vadgam Assembly constituency for the second time.

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The attack on Union Home Minister Shah and his son, Jay, was a reminder of the 2017 Assembly Polls when the Congress had revolved its campaign around Jay’s business firm and its controversial turnover.

"The Prime Minister is against dynasty politics but the son of his home minister becomes secretary of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). There are more than ten leaders whose children get party tickets,” Kumar, who joined Congress last year while Mevani, then an independent MLA, extended his support to Congress, in New Delhi.

“People say that Modi has no one for whom he will indulge in theft. But, not everyone in BJP is Modi. They have children. There are BJP chief ministers who want their children to become chief ministers. Chief Minister's children are ministers. Ministers' sons are ministers," Kumar said.

Seeking votes for Mevani, Kumar urged, “You will not elect a mere legislator this time but a star of hope (umeed ka sitara). The problem can be solved from where it actually originated. From a worker, you made Modi ji the chief minister and then the Prime Minister. Now, the whole country is facing the music of the Gujarat model. What are the ways to get rid of it? When you vote blindly, not for a party or making an individual an MLA but to reestablish that Gujarat always belonged to Gandhi and Patel and it will remain so."

“You will have to decide without any hesitation that the election in Gujarat will not be on the basis of region, identity or food choices. The decision should be made on who will be held responsible for Morbi (bridge collapse), who will be held responsible for oxygen scarcity in civil hospital in Ahmedabad during Covid-19, and who will look after Gujarat," Kumar said who arrived in Gujarat from Maharashtra where he is waking with party leader Rahul Gandhi in “Bharat Jodo Yatra.”