Sonia Gandhi's 'Rahul plane' to crash in Jharkhand: Home Minister Amit Shah

Jharkhand elections latest: Ahead of the Assembly polls, the BJP targets the Congress-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha alliance government in the state over various issues including infiltration, and safety

Jharkhand elections latest: Union Home Minister Amit Shah targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, saying that Sonia Gandhi tried to ‘launch’ him 20 times but ‘failed’.

 

“Sonia-ji is fond of launching her son. Sonia-ji tried to launch the ‘Rahul plane’ 20 times but it failed. It crashed 20 times. It is going to crash on the 21st at the Deoghar airport,” Shah said at an election rally in Jharkhand’s Giridih. 

 

Jharkhand conducted the first phase of Assembly elections on Wednesday, with the next phase scheduled for November 20.

Infiltration issue takes centre stage in Jharkhand election

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been targeting the Congress-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha alliance government in the state over various election issues, including infiltration, law and order, corruption and other issues.

 

At his poll rallies, Shah raked up the issue of alleged illegal infiltration from Bangladesh, which is one of the 25 issues highlighted by the saffron party in their election manifesto. The party has accused the ruling JMM of facilitating the infiltration for their ‘vote bank’.

 

“We will wipe out Naxalism and infiltration from Jharkhand,” he said, assuring that if the BJP is voted to power, all infiltrators will be “deported”. In response, the Congress-JMM alliance said that infiltration is a national security issue for which Shah’s Home Ministry is responsible.

BJP focuses on Waqf Bill to woo voters

Another key poll plank of the BJP is their promise of amending the Waqf Act. The party has accused the board of falsely grabbing the lands and properties and wants to introduce sweeping changes to the existing act to curb the powers of the board.

 

“The BJP will pass a bill in Parliament for the amendment to the Waqf Act and no one can stop it,” he said. Shah also accused the coalition government of keeping Jharkhand ‘poor’ despite the state’s rich mineral resources. The results of the Assembly elections in Jharkhand will be announced on November 23.