Bengaluru: Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday slammed Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his charges against the Election Commission of India (ECI) for “helping” the BJP to win elections, asserting that he (Rahul Gandhi) has come up a long way from from ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan to Jhoot Ki Dukaan’.
“Rahul Gandhi’s mindset is clear. When Congress was in power, it was ‘Loot Ki Dukaan’. During the elections, it was ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’. Now, after losing the election, it has become ‘Jhoot Ki Dukaan’. He has no respect for constitutional institutions,” he said.
The Union Minister said that Congress imposed Emergency, banned newspapers and TV, even stopped Kishore Kumar’s songs, and jailed opposition leaders, including Jayaprakash Narayan.
“It’s like the saying, ‘Those who can’t dance blame the floor.’ Rahul Gandhi is displaying the same behaviour. Making baseless accusations against institutions like the Election Commission is foolishness,” he claimed.
He said that the ECI had summoned the LoP Rahul Gandhi to seek information regarding his allegations, but he didn’t turn up, which clearly shows that his accusations are baseless.
“Rahul Gandhi operates like a ‘hit and run’ case. He makes random statements and disappears when questioned. He doesn’t even bother to file formal complaints. Though he was in Bengaluru, he didn’t visit the Election Commission office despite being summoned between 1 pm and 3 pm. Instead, he said he would send someone else. Why send a representative if the allegations were his own?” he claimed.
He claimed that despite the EC asking for affidavits regarding all the allegations made in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Haryana, LoP Rahul Gandhi has not submitted even one, and failed to appear despite being personally invited by the EC in Bengaluru, which “exposes” his “bogus” claims.
“First, it was EVMs; now, the Election Commission is the target. Yet, he hasn’t submitted any evidence in court either. Now he’s demanding CCTV footage, which is normally stored for only 45 days. How can it be retrieved now?” he said.
He claimed that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, around 9 lakh objections were submitted. But not a single election petition came from the Congress. If there were voting or electoral roll irregularities, why didn’t they object?
“In every election, BLA (Booth Level Agents) monitor booths. If there were irregularities in Mahadevapura, why didn’t Congress BLAs notice? Were they sleeping? The draft voter list is shared with all candidates and political parties. If there was malpractice, why didn’t they catch it then? Why didn’t they file an election petition after the results? Were the candidates asleep? Or was Rahul Gandhi in a different world altogether?” he said.
He said that the BJP led in five of the six assembly segments under Bangalore Central. Only one segment had a steep loss. In Sirsi, despite being a BJP stronghold, we lost. Does that mean EVMs or the EC failed there, too?
“After the Maharashtra elections, they claimed 70 lakh new voters were added. Then they said 1 crore. The EC clarified that 40 lakh new voters were added, which is normal. Still, Rahul Gandhi keeps throwing around wild numbers,” Joshi said.
“In 2004 and 2009, during the UPA rule, more new voters were added than now. In 2024, the increase was 4.7 per cent, in 2009 it was 4.1 per cent, and in 2014 it was 3.4 per cent. Under NDA, it’s 4.4 per cent. There’s no logic in these accusations. Ironically, they won when the voter additions were the highest,” Joshi countered.
(IANS)
