It's Patriots vs Congress, says Amit Shah on Rajasthan polls

In Rajasthan, it is patriots vs Congress, deprived of policies and principles. Expressing the view, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Monday left it to the voters to choose the party, on December 7, they feel should govern the state for the next five years.

Hailing his party as an organisation of patriots, Shah dubbed the Congress led by Rahul Gandhi as a political outfit deprived of policies and principles. Addressing an election rally here, he said: "Rajasthan people have to decide on upcoming December 7 as to who would govern the state for the next five years. On the one hand, there is a party of patriots led by (Narendra) Modi ji. On the other hand, it is the Congress under Rahul baba's leadership, which has no policy or principles. People have to choose between the BJP and the Congress party."

Sharpening his attack, Shah boasted that since 2014 electoral win his party has spread its wings across 70 per cent of the nation while reducing the Congress to the state of extinct.

"Rahul Gandhi should stop daydreaming about winning elections. In 2014 people made Prime Minister of India. The first election after that was held in Maharashtra where Congress lost and BJP won. Thereafter, Congress lost to BJP in Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa. Bharatiya Janata Party is ruling over 70 per cent geographical area of India," said the BJP president while underlining the party's achievement.

"When it was former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi's government in Rajasthan, what did Rajasthan get? It got Rs.1,09,242 crore in the 13th Finance Commission. The BJP government worked to increase it to Rs.2,63,580 crore for Rajasthan. And they (Congress) are asking us what have we done?" Shah explained while underscoring the central government's commitment towards the state's development and burning the midnight oil to achieve it.

Elections in Rajasthan are being seen as a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress. While BJP is gearing to repeat its 2013 performance, the Congress has pulled out all the stops to bounce back in the state. In 2013, Congress faced a defeat in Rajasthan assembly polls as BJP managed its best ever tally of 163 seats out of 200.

The 200-member Rajasthan Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on December 7 and the counting of votes will take place on December 11.