PATNA: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, addressing an election rally in Bihar’s Bhagalpur with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday, asserted that the BJP’s seat tally in the ongoing parliamentary elections would not cross 150-mark.
Seeking votes for Congress’s Bhagalpur candidate Ajit Sharma, Gandhi said that BJP could make any claim, but the reality was something else. “BJP will not be able to get more than 150 seats in the election,” he said.
The fight for Bhagalpur got tougher with a former RJD MP from the seat, Bulo Mandal, joining Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) recently. Mandal resigned from the RJD after Bhagalpur went to JD(U) under the seat-sharing deal.
Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani also addressed the gathering. Sahni’s VIP has returned to the Grand Alliance recently and is contesting election on three seats on RJD’s symbols.
Addressing the rally, Gandhi said this election is being contested to save the Constitution of the country and accused the BJP and the RSS of making an attempt to abolish it. “If the Constitution is abolished, OBCs, EBCs and Dalits will not get reservation,” he said.
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of turning the country into a “centre of unemployment,” Gandhi said that if the INDIA bloc is voted to power, it will ensure a “first job guarantee” to all graduates and diploma degree holders.
He added that currently, the wealth of 22 people was equal to that possessed by 70 crore people of the country, as the PM has waived loans of the former worth `16 lakh crore. With that amount, farmers’ loans could have been waived 25 times, Gandhi said.