New Delhi, Oct 13: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to introspect over his party’s electoral setbacks instead of blaming the Election Commission (EC) or the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
According to The Times of India, Amit Shah cited the BJP’s victories in recent Assembly bypolls in West Bengal and the Lok Sabha by-election in Assam, along with the Congress’s defeat in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation polls, to question the opposition’s allegations against the poll body.
“I also wish to ask Rahul ji: is this the result of an ‘SIR’? You dismiss the popularity of the BJP and Modi ji by attributing it to an ‘SIR’. You need to introspect,” Amit Shah said. Referring to Gujarat, where the BJP has been in power for several years, the Home Minister said the Congress had repeatedly failed to secure electoral victories in the state.
“In a major state (Gujarat) where you once held power, you have failed to win a single election in 41 years. This is a matter that demands serious introspection on their part,” he said. Amit Shah also cited the results of recent by-elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, claiming that the Congress had failed to win a single seat.
“In Nagaon, the BJP candidate won by a margin of 1,42,000 votes, wresting the seat from the Congress. In Nandigram, the BJP candidate won with 76% of the vote, securing a massive lead of 1,22,000 votes. In Rejinagar, the BJP won by over 75,000 votes, snatching the seat from the Trinamool, while in Puducherry, the NDA candidate from ally AINRC won by 8,482 votes. The Congress secured only 22% of the votes,” Amit Shah said.
Amit Shah’s remarks came shortly after leaders of the Congress-led INDIA bloc held a joint press conference at Rahul Gandhi’s residence in New Delhi and vowed to continue their campaign seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the invalidation of the SIR exercise over alleged irregularities.
Rahul Gandhi had said the opposition’s political resistance would continue, but declined to disclose its next course of action, saying he did not want to “spoil the surprise”.
