DAINIK NATION BUREAU
BJP national spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain averred that the national leaders of Congress, including Rahul Gandhi, steering clear of poll-bound Uttarakhand has made it clear that the figure of the ruling party in the state would not reach the double digit. He said this while addressing a press conference in Dehradun on Wednesday. He also pointed out the blackout of the Nehru-Gandhis from the Congress’s posters and banners, saying that either Harish Rawat has wiped them clean to win the election on his own or they were on the run, anticipating the party’s rout.
“If my party forms the next government in the state we would go all out to provide LPG connection to every APL family under Ujjwala scheme,” he said.
Reacting sharply to the Congress spokesmann Manish Tewari’s allegation, the BJP leader said that Congress had not even spared coal, agricultural land and air (Agusta helicopter) from its vicious clutches.
“Crippled with scarcity of leaders, the party is banking solely on the chief minister Harish Rawat and the poll strategist Prashant Kishor. The national leaders are on the run, reluctant as they are to own responsibility of the impending defeat. It amounts to acknowledging defeat days before the hustings. Confident as we are of a resounding victory, we are rolling out a galaxy of leaders. The differences are glaring,” he said.
Replying to the Congress allegation that BJP ad campaign is being run by Anubhav Mittal whose picture along with the Union home minister Rajnath Singh was recently released by the Congress, Hussain said that those in the public life got photographed with several people. “A particular picture does not say anything,” he said.
Quizzed by the media query over his campaigning programmes being fixed in the Muslim -dominated areas despite none from the community being picked up as a candidate here, Hussain said that his party does not give tickets on the basis of religions. “We award ticket only on the basis of winnablity,” he said.
Asked why the party’s vision document having nothing for the Muslim community, Hussain said that party was committed to uniform development of all the communities. “The projects we envision would benefit all, irrespective of caste and religion,” he said.