India News | Indira Gandhi Had Promised Poverty Removal but Nothing Happened: Shah's Dig at Rahul

Bhandara (Maharashtra), Apr 14 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday took potshots at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for vowing to remove poverty, saying former prime minister Indira Gandhi had made the same promise but nothing changed on the ground.

Addressing a poll rally at Sakoli town in Bhandara district of Maharashtra, Shah said as long as the BJP is in politics, it would neither remove the reservation in employment and education nor let anyone do so.

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"Rahul Gandhi says that his party would undertake a poverty eradication programme. He does not read, but I would like to inform him that his grandmother and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, had made the same promise.

"She (Indira), her son Rajiv Gandhi, and later Sonia Gandhi all came to power and gone, but nothing happened. How can we trust Rahul Gandhi's promise?" Shah said.

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The BJP has fielded sitting MP Sunil Mendhe from Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency.

Shah also accused Rahul of spreading rumours about a potential threat to the Constitution if BJP wins a massive mandate.

"Rahul Gandhi talks about how BJP would misuse the majority in Parliament if it wins a third term. I want to tell him that the BJP had the majority in the last ten years, and we used the majority to remove Article 370 and triple talaq," he said.

Shah also tore into Congress over the promises made in the party's manifesto for Lok Sabha elections.

He claimed Rahul Gandhi was misleading people that the BJP government would remove quota in jobs and education.

"As long as the BJP is in politics, it will neither remove reservations nor allow anyone to remove them," the Union home minister added.

The BJP government at the Centre would crush the Naxal menace from Chhattisgarh forever if voted to power for a third term, Shah said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)