AHMEDABAD: Campaigning for the Gujarat elections hit a crescendo on Sunday with several national leaders of the BJP, Congress and AAP descending on the coastal state. Speaking at a public meeting in Gujarat’s Kheda district, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharpened his attack on the Congress. “Gujarat had for a long time been a target of terrorism. People of Gujarat were killed in explosions in Surat and Ahmedabad. The Congress was ruling in Delhi then. We asked them to target terrorism but they targeted me instead. Terrorism was at peak in the country,” he said.
Modi added that the spectre of terrorism will haunt the country until vote bank politics is eradicated. “We caught terrorists in Gujarat but the then Congress government in Delhi was saving terrorists for vote bank politics,” he said. “During the Batla House encounter, Congress leaders cried in support of terrorists,” he added.
Addressing a rally at Dediapada, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said India is a democratic country thanks to the Congress. “Modi and Shah ask what Congress did in the last 70 years. If the Congress had not worked in the last 70 years, we would not have seen a democracy today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took a swipe at Modi questioning his repeated visits to Gujarat. This, he said, shows the BJP is “scared” of the results of Gujarat polls.
Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal attacked both the BJP Congress at his Surat rally, and claimed Gujaratis want change this time. Gujarat elections will be held in two phases – on December 1 and 5 – and the results will be declared on December 8.
2 jawans on poll duty killed by colleague
Two jawans of the Indian Reserve Battalion, on election duty in Gujarat, were killed and two others were injured after their colleague opened fire over a dispute in a village near Porbandar on Saturday