Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Friday alleged  BJP seeks votes in the name of God instead of talking about how it is going to control inflation or provide employment to people. Gandhi was addressing a number of nukkad sabhas in support of Congress candidate from Amethi Lok Sabha seat Kishori Lal Sharma where she said while the Prime Minister claims on national television that his government did in 10 years the work that was not done in the last 70 years, the situation on the ground level tells a different story.

Kishori Lal Sharma is contesting against sitting Amethi MP Smriti Irani. The BJP leader had wrested the seat, which was considered a Gandhi family stronghold, from Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.  Priyanka Gandhi targeted Smriti Irani and said her sole intention was to beat Rahul Gandhi.

She said, the Amethi MP and BJP people come at the time of the elections but do not talk about how they will control inflation, improve farming or provide employment to people of Amethi.  She added BJP comes to people’s houses and ask for votes in the name of God.

Did they not do this?  She said they are misleading the people. She asked why the BJP is not seeking votes in the name of work done in the past 10 years? She said everybody is religious and God and religion are very dear to all of them, but using religion for politics is wrong.

Gandhi recalled her family’s association with Amethi and said the tradition of politics here was such that it was a leader’s dharma to serve people and it was followed by all members of her family. She said the tradition was followed and so the people of Amethi always supported them and strengthened them. She said the relationship was such that they strengthened each other.

INDIA Bloc on Thursday accused the union government of trying to create communal divide over a report that claimed there has been a decrease in the share of the Hindu population between 1950 and 2015. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and CPI General Secretary D Raja slammed Modi government for not conducting the census, and called the working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) as an attempt to get votes by creating a communal divide.

Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh used the report to target the Congress, and said there has been a decrease in the Hindu population due to its politics of appeasement. When RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was asked about the report he accused BJP of spreading hatred.

The census that was supposed to take place in 2020-21 has not been carried out till now. Yadav said the aim of the BJP government is trying to mislead the people of the country, and are spreading communal hatred. Yadav further pointed out that this is the only agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP government at the centre. He accused the Modi government of fooling people of the country for the past 10 years, and they want to do that again.

Raja questioned the timing of the report and asked why has the prime minister’s economic advisory council come out with this report at a time when the country is undergoing Lok Sabha elections?  He said PM Modi is already trying to polarise people in the name of Muslims and is talking about handing over keys of the Ram Temple to Muslims. He asked why is PM Modi taking up all these issues? Raja further added that this means there is an attempt to polarise people by bringing out such data and said the people should be cautious of such reports.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday was addressing an election rally in Telangana’s Bhongir where he claimed that if the BJP came to power in the state then it will increase the reservation of SC, ST, OBC and will end the Muslim reservation.

While appealing to the public to vote for BJP in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Amit Shah said Congress wants to fight elections by telling lies. He pointed out that Congress has said that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes then he will end reservation. Shah said PM Modi has been leading India unanimously for the last 10 years, but he did not finish reservation. But the Congress party has robbed the reservations of SC, ST, OBC by giving 4% reservation to Muslims.

He added further in 2019, the public of Telangana gave the BJP 4 seats. The Union Home Minister promised that the BJP will get more than 10 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. This double digit score in Telangana makes PM Modi cross 400 seats. He appealed to the people of Telangana to make BJP victorious in more than 10 seats. And they will end Muslim reservation in the state of Telangana and increase the reservation of SC, ST, and OBC’s.

Shah took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said in BJP’s election manifesto the party has given Modi guarantees and he does what he says. And the guarantees of Rahul baba does not even stay till sunset. The Union Home Minister slammed Rahul Gandhi for making promises and not fulfilling them. He said Rahul Gandhi promised to forgive the farmer loans but did not, he promised to give Rs 15000 to farmers but he did not fulfill his promise. Amit Shah further said Rahul Gandhi promised to give loans of Rs 5 lakh to students without guarantee but did not.