With barely a few days left for the single-phase Assembly election in Haryana, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday took a jibe at the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, asking if the Congress leader knows the full form of MSP as he underlined that the BJP government in Haryana was procuring 24 crops at the minimum support price.

Addressing an elections rally in Haryana’s Rewari, Shah also slammed the grand old party on the issue of corruption and reservation.

Taking a swipe at the Congress leader on the farmers’ issue, Shah said some NGO has told Rahul ‘baba’ that by saying MSP (minimum support price) he will get votes.

“Rahul baba, do you know the full form of MSP? Which crop is of Kharif, which one is of Rabi, do you know,” Shah asked.

Asking if Congress-ruled states have bought any crops at MSP specifically Karnataka and Telangana, the senior BJP leader said that the saffron party government in Haryana is procuring 24 crops at MSP.

“Let Congress leaders in Haryana tell which Congress-ruled state procures as many crops,” he said.

Shah said during Congres’s rule, paddy was procured at Rs 1300 per quintal, now it is Rs 2300. He said if the BJP government comes to power again in Haryana, it will procure paddy at Rs 3,100 (per quintal).

Hitting out at Congress, Shah said that Gandhi has no work other than spreading rumors, which is why Haryana has lagged so much. During Congress rule, whenever a CM came, only one district would benefit, and corruption and hooliganism would increase, he added.

“But when BJP came into power, it worked for entire Haryana and ensured the development of all 36 communities. In these 10 years, the BJP has wiped out every trace of corruption from Haryana. Under Congress, the government ran on cuts, commissions, and corruption,” Shah said.

Further attacking the Congress, Shah said it was the Narendra Modi government that fulfilled the long pending demand for “One Rank One Pension”.

“Congress governments used to run on the basis of cut, commission and corruption while dealers, dalals (middlemen) and ‘damads’ used to rule. Under BJP government, there are no dealers, ‘dalals’ while there is no question of ‘damad’,” the senior BJP leader said.

Haryana will vote on October 5 and the results will be declared on October 8.

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the release of terrorists in exchange for Rubaiya Sayeed in 1989 and Indian Airlines plane in Afghanistan in 1999 are responsible for the growth of terrorism in the region.

Abdullah made his statement in a reply to PM Modi’s speech in an election rally at Srinagar earlier in the day accusing the National Conference (NC), Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for destruction of Jammu and Kashmir.

The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister said the people should be thankful that the NC was there in 1947 at the time of Partition otherwise the Muslim-majority State would have become a part of Pakistan.

Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of an election rally in Udhampur East in support of the party candidate Sunil Verma, the NC president also opposed the ‘One Nation, One Election’ plan of the BJP-led government and accused the party of spreading hatred in the country.

On being asked about the statement of the Prime Minister in Srinagar accusing the three families – NC, Congress and PDP – for destroying Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah said who released hardcore terrorists at Kandahar, Afghanistan in December 1999 in exchange for the hijacked 814 Indian Airlines plane and for abducted Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the then Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in 1989. Rubaiya is the sister of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti.

“Who put pressure when I told them that don’t do it (release the terrorists in both cases)? The same terrorists who were released then are running terrorism in J&K from Pakistan. I had told at that time that they will be responsible for our destruction but nobody listened and now they are blaming us – Congress and NC,” Abdullah said.

The NC president said the people should be thankful that the NC was there in J&K during partition. “Had we not been there, J&K would have become a part of Pakistan because it was a Muslim-majority State. Instead, we preferred the path of Gandhi-Nehru to become part of India where all of its citizens — Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Buddhists — are equals.”

Abdullah said they are claiming that terrorism is over but the ground situation shows that it has increased in otherwise peaceful Jammu region.

Reacting to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s unfortunate to refer to Gyanvapi as a mosque since it is an embodiment of Lord Vishwanath himself remarks, the Samajwadi Party on Saturday said Adityanath is dividing the society for his vested political interest and he does not respect the court.

Speaking to PTI, the Samajwadi Party (SP) spokesperson Abbas Haidar said, “It seems that Adityanath does not give respect to the court. The matter is pending in the court. It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister has taken the oath of the Constitution, but it seems he is not giving due respect to the court.

The Samajwadi Party slammed the Chief Minister over his remark even as the BJP and some saints of Ayodhya rallied around in his support.

“For his vested political interests, he is dividing the society. The mandate given by the public to the BJP also indicates that they have not spoken on issues related to people,” Haidar alleged.

While inaugurating an international seminar on “Contribution of Nath Panth in Building a Harmonious Society” at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University,  Adityanath made these remarks and also highlighted the spiritual significance of Kashi and the revered site of Gyanvapi.

“It is unfortunate that some people refer to Gyanvapi as a mosque while it is the embodiment of Lord Vishwanath himself,” he said, and also made a detailed reference to legendary sage Adi Shankar, narrating an anecdote about his encounter with Lord Vishwanath in Kashi.

The Gyanvapi issue has been at the Centre of a long-drawn legal battle with the Hindu side arguing that the Gyanvapi mosque was allegedly built on the remains of a pre-existing temple, while the Muslim side has contested the claim.

UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla told PTI, “Historic, archaeological and spiritual evidence categorically indicate that Gyanvapi is a temple.”

Mahant of Ayodhya’s Hanumangarhi temple Raju Das said, “It is only the unfortunate people who are calling Gyanvapi a mosque. It is itself Vishwanath, and a temple of Kashi Vishwanath. Even if a blind person puts his or her hand over the structure, he or she would get a feeling of all the symbols of ‘Sanatan’.