Oppn mounts attack on Centre over 'vote theft'
MUZAFFARPUR / DARBHANGA, Aug. 28 -- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over US President Donald Trump's claim of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan even as his ally, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, attacked the Election Commission of India.
The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, whose fortnight-long "Voter Adhikar Yatra" in Bihar has three more days to go, covered north Bihar districts of Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi, all strongholds of the National Democratic Alliance.
Addressing a rally in Sitamarhi's Runni Saidpur late in the evening, Gandhi said, "What type of Prime Minister do we have? He brags of having a 56-inch chest. But US President Donald Trump says that while Operation Sindoor was on, he called up Modi and told him to stop the military conflict within 24 hours. And Modi, like a deflated tyre (hawa nikal gayi), obeyed the command within five hours."
Speaking in Muzaffarpur, he charged ECI of colluding with BJP in suppressing rights of voters. The Congress leader also alleged that the "Gujarat model" "was all about vote chori (theft of votes)". "It is the model (Union home minister) Amit Shah must have had in his mind when he had predicted that the BJP would rule the country for 30-40 years. Politicians like us know well that the public mood is fickle and we cannot be sure of what is going to happen tomorrow," he said.
Stalin, addressing the rally in Tamil (translated to Hindi), alleged the BJP was turning ECI into a "puppet run by remote control." "We've united to protect democracy," Stalin said.
The Opposition rally drew massive crowds, with Gandhi flanked by Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashwi Yadav, Stalin, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist's Dipankar Bhattacharya.
In Sitamarhi, Gandhi also said that he will "expose" the BJP. "I can say with full confidence that the BJP indulged in "vote chori" in at least 70-80 Lok Sabha seats in the last parliamentary polls. We have started working to expose the vote theft that took place in other parts of the country. I will expose them in the coming six months," he said.
Kanimozhi said she joined to protest the BJP's "institutional capture" and ECI's alleged role in the "biggest vote theft."
Hitting back, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia, "If there is one family that is the most corrupt and 'chor' (thief), then it is the 'nakli' (fake) Gandhi family. Sonia Gandhi, Robert Vadra and Rahul Gandhi are out on bail in corruption cases," Bhatia...
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