BJP Hits Back At Rahul Gandhi Over 'Hydrogen Bomb' Vote Theft Claim: 'Insulting Voters In Arrogance'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday mocked Rahul Gandhi's claim that he will soon come out with a 'hydrogen bomb' as part of his 'vote chori' allegation, saying that his "atom bomb" had turned out to be a damp squib. The saffron party also accused him of demeaning his position as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha with irresponsible comments.

Taking on Gandhi, whose 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' concluded in Patna, for his barbs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress leader and his party have a history of "abusing" Modi. But people, he added, have repeatedly rejected Gandhi and reposed faith in the prime minister.

By alleging fraud and deceit behind the BJP's victories under Modi's leadership, the Congress leader has been insulting voters, he said. "This is arrogance and we will tell voters to punish him for his arrogance," he said.

The former Union minister took repeated jabs at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as well for playing "second fiddle" to Gandhi in Bihar despite the Congress lacking a political base in the state. Yadav has claims over the chief minister's chair but has ceded the front seat to Gandhi, he added.

The Yatra, he asserted, will have no impact on the Bihar assembly polls, expected to be held in October-November.

Defending the ongoing Special Intensive Review of electoral rolls in the state, Prasad claimed that the opposition's campaign against it is solely driven by two reasons. Opposition leaders want "right and might to capture booths" and that infiltrators should be allowed to vote, he said, recalling the state's history of poll violence and incidents of booth-capturing.

Gandhi's campaign, he asserted, is born out of his frustration over the Congress' repeated poll defeats, and if he carries on with a similar conduct, then his party will suffer an even worse fate.

The BJP leader noted that the ruling party suffered setbacks in states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections due to the opposition's "false" campaign that the Modi government would change the Constitution if it were re-elected.

However, people soon realised the truth and voted the BJP to record wins in Haryana and Maharashtra, he added, asserting that the ruling alliance will notch up a similar victory in Bihar.

The SIR removed from electoral rolls 22 lakh dead voters and eight lakh duplicate voters, he said, wondering if their names should have been allowed on the voters' list.

The BJP's sharp attack on Gandhi and his allies came after he said his party will soon come out with a "hydrogen bomb" of revelations about "vote chori" and that Modi will not be able to show his face to the country afterwards.

"We will not let them (BJP) murder the Constitution and that is why we took out a yatra. We got a tremendous response. People came out in large numbers and raised the slogan 'vote chor gaddi chhor'," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

Gandhi had called his allegations about the electoral roll irregularities in the Mahadevapura assembly segment in Karnataka's Bangalore central Lok Sabha seat an "atom bomb".

Hitting back, Prasad said Gandhi's so-called atom bomb was not even like the Diwali firecracker that does not go off.

"One really has to try hard to understand what he means in his speeches in and outside Parliament... The world has not really seen the impact of a hydrogen bomb. Now Rahul Gandhi is talking about it," he said sarcastically.

He accused Gandhi of repeatedly demeaning his position as the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha with his irresponsible comments.

Prasad also turned to highlight what he described as internal rumblings within the RJD's ruling family, noting that Yadav's sister Misa Bharti, who represents Patliputra in Lok Sabha, was not part of the concluding event of the Yatra even though her constituency overlaps Patna city.

He said both Gandhi and Yadav are facing trial in corruption cases but were making big claims about morality. Yadav's father and RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted on corruption charges, he said.

With Gandhi spearheading an aggressive campaign against Modi, the BJP leader said he had made a similar high-decibel pitch against the prime minister in the past over a host of issues, including the Rafale aircraft purchase and the alleged use of spyware Pegasus, but found little traction.

The Congress leader has spared no constitutional institutions, be it CAG or the Election Commission, from his attack as he believes that the prime minister's chair is his divine right, Prasad charged.

"Gandhi may believe that the prime minister's chair is his divine right, but people have and will continue to bless Modi with their votes," he said.

(With PTI inputs)

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