With the Assembly polls approaching, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi kicked off his two-day poll campaign from Porbandar on Friday. While addressing a rally in Porbandar, the Gandhi scion said that the BJP has worked in Gujarat to cater to top industrialists in the state and has not favoured the fishermen and farmers.
In the last few years, all of the work in Gujarat has been done for just five to ten industrialists. And those industrialists contributed to campaigning for Narendra Modi later on. There should be a separate ministry for fisheries in Gujarat. And if the Congress comes to power in Gujarat, we will do this. But the most important fact is that Gujarat does not belong to five or ten industrialists. It belongs to the farmers and fishermen.Rahul Gandhi, Vice President, Congress
Gandhi also alleged the government delayed the winter session of Parliament as it wanted to avoid discussion on issues related to BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay, the Rafale deal and Doklam standoff before the Gujarat polls.
His statement came hours after the announcement was made in New Delhi that the winter session will commence from 15 December, a day after the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections. Usually, the winter session starts in the third week of November and lasts till the third week of December.
They have closed Parliament... every year Parliament opens in November, this year it will not open in November. You see, it is not going to open before elections.
"Why? because they don't want Jay Shah, Rafale deal and Doklam issues to be discussed in Parliament before Gujarat elections," he told a gathering of Dalits near Ahmedabad.
The Wire had alleged that the turnover of a company of Jay Shah had grown exponentially from Rs 50,000 to Rs 8 crore after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.
The Congress had recently raised questions over the Rafale fighter aircraft deal, accusing the government of compromising national interest and security while promoting "crony capitalism" and causing a loss to the public exchequer.
Rahul Gandhi criticised the BJP for not waiving the subsidy burden on Gujarat and instead investing Rs 33,000 crore on TATA’s ‘Nano project’.
You all drive on roads of Gujarat. Have seen one Tata Nano car? Narendra Modi gave 33,000 crore to Tata for Nano plant. The subsidy burden on Gujarat government was Rs 300 crore. They won’t give you Rs 300 crore but will splash Rs 33,000 crore on Tata Nano. And still you don’t see a single Tata Nano on road.Rahul Gandhi, Vice President, Congress
Rahul Gandhi confidently said that the Congress party will form the government in poll bound Gujarat and will satisfy the demands of the people .
Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)