BJP narrative on national security tool to cover up failures, says Congress' Sultanpur candidate

Demanding an account of the work done by the BJP in last five years, the Congress candidate from Sultanpur Lok Sabha seat said that the ruling party brought in the narrative on national security in ongoing elections to cover up failures of their governance.

Sanjay Singh, who is fielded by Congress against BJP heavyweight Maneka Gandhi, claimed that paramilitary forces have suffered maximum casualties under the BJP-led NDA government.

"Why there was a need for this narrative focused on national security? If you see the measurement of terrorism, then maximum incidents took place in these five years, maximum Jawans of the paramilitary forces died in these five years, the maximum number of Jammu and Kashmir boys joined terror outfits. If their narrative on national security was true then why did all this happen? They brought all this to take away people's attention from their narrative for 2014 Lok Sabha polls," the Congress leader told ANI.

Singh, who is a sitting Rajya Sabha lawmaker, opined that the BJP's poll strategy witnessed a 360-degree change as they failed to deliver on past promises.

"There are a few local as well as national issues in this Lok Sabha election. The national issue is that during the 2014 general election, whatever Prime Minister Narendra Modi said regarding 'acche din', jobs, black money and terrorism, he has not been able to show anything in five years. The people now know the reality of BJP. The BJP's narrative this time has changed 360 degrees. People are thinking that in 2014 they had promised so many things in their manifesto, now in 2019, they should give an account of the work done by them," Sanjay Singh told ANI.

The SP-BSP alliance has fielded Chandra Bhadra Singh (Sonu) from the highly priced parliamentary constituency of Uttar Pradesh, which will vote in the sixth phase of national elections on May 12.

Citing how both his opponents are from outside Sultanpur, Chandra Bhadra Singh termed the poll battle a "contest between resident and not-residents".

"Maneka Gandhi has yet not revealed on what issue she is contesting the Lok Sabha elections. I am a resident of Sultanpur, while these people have come from Delhi and Amethi. It's a contest between resident and not-residents," the BSP leader said.

BJP leader and Maneka Gandhi's son, Varun Gandhi is the sitting parliamentarian from the seat. Their party high command swapped seats for the mother-son duo this election as Varun is contesting from Pilibhit, a seat held by Maneka Gandhi.

The result for Lok Sabha elections will be announced on May 23.