Bareilly, May 2: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday attacked Rahul Gandhi, saying he started his party's campaign with Bharat Jodo Yatra that will end with a 'Congress Dhoondho Yatra,' suggesting that the party will get a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections. Addressing an election rally here, Shah alleged that Rahul, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and SP's Akhilesh Yadav did not attend the Ram Temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya fearing this may alienate their vote bank.

"The 'shehzade' (prince) of 'ghamandia' INDI Alliance started his election campaign with Bharat Jodo Yatra but on June 4 (counting day), it will end with a 'Congress Dhoondho Yatra'," Shah said. "In the first two phases, Congress is nowhere, while Narendra Modi has made a century and taken a lead in the '400 race' (race to 400 seats)," he said. He said that this election is for ending terrorism and Naxalism and making India the third major economy globally. Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 'PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah Sellers and Ambani, Adani Buyers', Says Mallikarjun Kharge (Watch Video).

Shah hit out at the INDIA bloc partner Samajwadi Party, saying it indulges in dynastic politics, for its president Akhilesh Yadav has given tickets to five members of his family in the current election. He said that while Akhilesh is contesting from Kannauj and his wife Dimple Yadav is in fray from Mainpuri, Akshay Yadav, Aditya Yadav, and Dharmendra Yadav, all three his family members, are contenders from Firozabad, Budaun, and Azamgarh.

"Had he given a ticket to some Yadav youths, it would have been better," he said. Shah said that for the past 70 years, Congress was stalling the Ram Temple construction, a task completed by the BJP. "When you made Modi PM for the second time, within five years, we won the case, did the groundbreaking, and performed the consecration ceremony of the temple on January 22. Samajwadi Party chief Akhliesh Yadav, Dimple, Rahul and Priyanka, all were invited by the temple trust but they did not attend the consecration ceremony … because of the fear of their vote bank," Shah said. Amit Shah Unhurt After Helicopter Carrying Him Briefly Loses Control in Bihar, Video of Home Minister's Narrow Escape Surfaces.

"You all know who their vote bank is," he added. On revoking Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, he said, "Congress president asks what do people of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have to do with Kashmir. He doesn't know that for Kashmir, every child of Bareilly can sacrifice his lives … In Kashmir, our tricolour is flying with pride."

On the "surgical strike" after Pulwama attack, Shah said that under the past Congress governments, there was no reprisal for such acts and anyone could enter the country and do bomb blasts. "We did a surgical strike inside Pakistan to get rid of terrorists." He praised the Narendra Modi government's successful Covid vaccination of 130 crore people.

Shah claimed that Uttar Pradesh was riven with communal riots till 2017, when Yogi Adityanath came to power and made it riot-free and stopped residents' exodus from western UP. "In Yogi's regime, it is the hooligans who are migrating," he said.

In Samajwadi Party's UP, factories prepared country-made pistols, but now they manufacture tanks and missiles that will be fired on Pakistan, he said. Claiming that the Opposition's INDIA bloc is torn with internal differences, he said, "Akhilesh wants to become chief minister. Sonia ji wants his son (Rahul Gandhi) to become prime minister. Those who are working to make their family members PM and CM, can they think of poor welfare?" Bareilly will go to poll in the third phase on May 7.