Congress will blame EVMs for loss: Amit Shah

New Delhi, Kushinagar, Ballia, Chandauli: Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will “lose his job” after the Lok Sabha poll results are announced on June 4, but Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will not be blamed for the defeat, and instead the party will say it lost due to EVMs.

Addressing back-to-back rallies in Kushinagar, Chandauli and Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, he said: “I have the details of the first five phases. In five phases of the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Modi has crossed 310 seats. Rahul will not cross 40 and Akhilesh Yadav will not get even four seats on June 4.”

“Kharge will lose his job as ‘bhai behen’ (Rahul and Priyanka) will not be blamed for the defeat,” he asserted.

Hitting out at the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, he said while Narendra Modi was born in the house of a backward, both Rahul and Akhilesh were born with a silver spoon and do not know about the problems being faced by the people of Purvanchal (eastern UP).

“They did not like the weather of the country. Rahul used to go to Thailand on leave every six months. They did not tolerate the heat of Purvanchal while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not taken a single leave in his tenure,” he said.

Accusing Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav of being involved in corruption, the home minister said Modi has never faced any such allegation.

“As chief minister and Prime Minister, no allegation of corruption of even 25 paise was levelled against Modi while the two ‘shehzade’ (Rahul and Akhilesh) were involved in corruption worth Rs 12 lakh crores,” he alleged, without elaborating it.

Referring to the Sahara group, Shah claimed: “Akhilesh's party used to run from Sahara’s fund. The scam was done in their (SP) regime. We have ensured a refund of the people’s money and the process has started.”

“If you people make them (Opposition) win, they will take away reservations of Dalits, backwards and tribals and give to Muslims… They did the same in Karnataka, Hyderabad and Bengal, but the high court did not allow it. Muslim reservations cannot be given constitutionally,” the senior BJP leader said while addressing the gathering.

Claiming that the Opposition has decided to make one Prime Minister every year during the five-year tenure, he asserted that when there will be five Prime Ministers in five years, the Opposition will again implement Article 370, bring back instant triple talaq and start talking to the terrorists.

Raising the Ram mandir issue, the home minister said the SP government had opened fire on Ram bhakts while the Congress had stalled the temple issue for 70 years.

“Modi ji not only did the bhoomi pujan of the temple but also attended the pran pratishtha ceremony, renovated the Kashi Vishwanath temple and worked towards gold plating of the Somnath temple,” he said.

Referring to Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s Pakistan atom bomb remarks, Shah said: “The BJP people are not afraid of atom bombs. PoK (Pak-occupied Kashmir) is ours and we will take it back.”

Also addressing the  poll meetings in Ballia for Salempur constituency and in Chandauli, he continued his blistering attacks on the Opposition alliance, terming it as a “gathering of dynasts”.

“Their aim is to make their son, daughter and nephews the chief minister. Can those who work for their sons and daughters do any good to you? Only the one who has a 130 crore family can do good to you, and he is Narendra Modi,” he said.

On Article 370, he said: "Rahul (Gandhi) used to threaten him about the revocation of Article 370, saying if it was revoked, there would be bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir. But after it was revoked, no one could dare to pelt a single stone there.”

He said in the previous Congress government, terrorists came from Pakistan and did blasts in the country and left.

Earlier, talking to a news agency, Mr Shah said no family member of any terrorist nor close relatives of stone-pelters will get government jobs in Jammu and Kashmir.

“In Kashmir, we have taken a decision that if someone joins a terrorist organisation, their family members will not get any government job,” he claimed.

Voting for these seats will take place in the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on June 1.