Dehradun: The Congress’s campaign head for poll-bound Uttarakhand Harish Rawat on Friday said the turnout at party leader Rahul Gandhi’s rally here has made it clear that the people have decided to vote the BJP out.
Taking a jibe at the BJP’s poll slogan “abki baar 60 ke paar” (this time we will cross 60 seats), he said this time people will throw BJP out of the state.
“Iss baar log BJP ko 60 paar nahi, tadi paar karenge,” he said.
The BJP, which came to power in Uttarakhand in 2017 winning 57 out of a total of 70 seats, has set itself a target of winning more than 60 seats this time.
“Unlike Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally here in which people were seen snoring and yawning out of boredom, the response to Gandhi’s rally was spontaneous with people hearing him till the end and leaving the ground only after him,” the former chief minister told reporters here.
“It is a clear indication that people have made up their mind about voting the BJP out this time,” he claimed.
On the BJP questioning the sincerity of its “new-found love” for the armed forces, Rawat evaded a direct reply and said, “Did we ever question the right of those who abused (Mahatma) Gandhi to salute him?”
He also said that the Congress will try to field as many ex-servicemen, women and youths in elections this time as possible.
“Wherever they stand a chance to win, they will be given tickets. We want to give as many tickets to candidates from among ex servicemen, women and youths this time as possible. But winnability will be a factor as numbers are important in a democracy,” the Congress general secretary said.
On Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia inviting him to the government schools in the national capital to see how much they have been improved, Rawat said the Delhi government deserves no credit for it because its budget is five times more than Uttarakhand’s and it has not improved the condition of more than a dozen schools.
“More than half of Delhi’s schools are still in a bad shape. They are talking of model schools today. We opened 600 model schools like Navodaya and Abhinav Vidyalayas in 2014-15 itself,” Rawat said.
He also reminded Sisodia of the failure of Mohalla Clinics, most of which are closed.
“Big locks are hanging at the doors of mohalla clinics in Delhi with street dogs sleeping on their premises and patients unwilling to visit them,” he added.