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On the eve of the third phase of polling in 94 Lok Sabha constituencies, senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday issued a statement on Muslims, saying the BJP is not afraid of their vote bank. Mr. Shah is among the prominent contestants in the fray from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat.
Mr. Shah said this while campaigning in Bihar’s Ujiarpur Lok Sabha seat in Samastipur district in support of BJP candidate and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai.
He was referring to how the Congress and its alliance partners intentionally skipped the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya to keep their vote bank happy.
“It was Lalu Prasad ji who had put L.K. Advani in jail in Samastipur during his rath yatra and opposed Ram Mandir. Lalu ji, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka were invited during the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir but they did not turn up fearing to lose their vote bank. I hope you all are aware, who are their vote banks? Tell me, are you aware or not? You are not the vote bank, their vote bank is different, but we are not afraid of those vote banks,” Mr. Shah said.
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He pointed out that the Congress gave 5% reservation to Muslims soon after forming the government in Karnataka and they did the same in Andhra Pradesh also by giving 4% reservation to Muslims.
“I promise you that the day when the BJP will form the government in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, we will end the reservation given to Muslims. Giving reservation to the minority is not according to the Constitution. We will not allow to cut the reservation of SC/ST and OBCs [Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class],” Mr. Shah asserted.
Without naming the Jharkhand Congress Minister Alamgir Alam’s Personal Assistant Sanjeev Lal and Congress leader Dhiraj Sahu, he launched the scathing attack on the leaders of INDIA (Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance) bloc over corruption issue.
“₹30 crore were recovered from the house of a servant of the secretary of a minister of the Indi alliance in Jharkhand. Two months ago ₹350 crore was found from the house of a Congress MP, and some time back ₹51 crore was found from the house of Mamata Banerjee’s Minister,” Mr. Shah said.
He was referring to former Minister Partha Chatterjee, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of school staff. The ED has recovered huge cash from the premises linked to him. He was later suspended from the Trinamool Congress and also removed from the post of Cabinet Minister.
Mr. Shah alleged that Mr. Prasad always insulted the Kushwaha community and Mr. Modi promoted Upendra Kushwaha (Rashtriya Lok Morcha president) and made Samrat Choudhary the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar. Both Mr. Kushwaha and Mr. Choudhary come from the Koeri caste, the second biggest bloc after Yadavs in the OBC group.
