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7. Branding Congress, AIADMK, DMK as corrupt, BJP prez Amit Shah seeks mandate for party: Attacking AIADMK, DMK and Congress for practising politics of "corruption", BJP chief Amit Shah today sought to pitch his party as an alternative in Tamil Nadu. He alleged that AIADMK and DMK, which have ruled the state for decades, have "pulled down" the development graph and urged the people of Tamil Nadu to vote for NDA to usher in politics of development. Addrressing an election rally here, Shah referred to various allegations of corruption against the two Dravidian parties besides BJP's arch-rival, Congress. He charged that DMK, AIADMK and Congress are "corrupt" and they do not "know anything other than corruption." "DMK (is facing allegations) in 2G spectrum allocation and Aircel-Maxis… how many scams are there against DMK," he said. Targeting senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, Shah said he and his son Karti "were also facing charges," in an apparent reference to the Aircel-Maxis deal. Shah, who had last month called the AIADMK dispensation the "most corrupt government in the country," referred to the disproportionate assets case against its supremo and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, now being heard in the Supreme Court. "In AIADMK, there is a disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa," he said. "The voters of Tamil Nadu have to decide in these Assembly polls if they wish to continue with politics of corruption and nepotism or they want to move to politics of development.
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1. Amit Shah: On the issue of chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', the BJP chief said that 99 per cent people were agreeable to hailing 'Mother India' with the slogan and the party would "convince" the rest. The BJP chief said there is no need to say Bharat Mata Ki Jai under pressure from RSS or BJP. "This slogan is being chanted much before RSS and BJP came to power," Shah said. "99 percent of people agree with the slogan. This debate is irrelevant. Those who do not want to chant this should be asked what is their problem with this slogan. We will convince the one per cent people, who do not want to chant it," Shah said but declined to answer how will the BJP go about it. "You leave it to us, how will we do it," he said. (PTI)
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2. Amit Shah: BJP chief justified the government's action on the Kanhaiya Kumar over the JNU controversy, insisting that some people deciding to hold a programme to commemorate Afzal Guru's death anniversary in itself is "anti-national". "There is no confusion in BJP about this. If some people decide to hold a programme to commemorate his death anniversary, this itself is anti-national," he said. Referring to alleged anti-India slogans raised at the JNU during the Afzal Guru event, he said, "If there are voices like these, then they must be suppressed." (PTI)
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3. Amit Shah: When asked whether MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who said he would not raise the chant hailing 'Mother India' "even if a knife is put to my throat", is a traitor, he said," No one becomes a traitor due to just one thing" and added "we will have to consider all other things and then come to a conclusion". (Express photo)
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4. Amit Shah: Asked about controversial comments made by party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya that those who do not chant the slogan should be sent to Pakistan, the BJP chief said one should rather listen to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and he himself said. (PTI)
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5. Rahul Gandhi on Kamduni rape incident: "When some women raised protest in Kamduni, the chief minister dubbed them as Maoists instead of giving them protection. Hatorri hath me aa gaya (hammer has come to the hand). Now TMC will be removed. Congress-Left alliance will bring back the glory of Bengal." (Reuters)
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Party chief Amit Shah also underlined the government's "commitment" to farmers by citing the new crop insurance scheme, which he said, for the first time provided full protection to farmers against any damage to their crops while the earlier schemes focused on helping them repay their loans.Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked party leaders and workers to use social media to highlight the government's successes besides reaching out to them on ground. (PTI)
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7. Amit Shah: When asked about a Supreme Court observation that merely raising anti-India slogan is not treason, he shot back, saying that the same court had once said that calling Congress activists goondas was also treason. Congress was in alliance in Kerala with Muslim League, which was responsible for India's partition, Shah said. At this Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who was seated among the audience rose and defended the alliance, saying the Muslim League in Kerala was different and was founded after the partition. Tharoor said its policies were not communal. (Express photo)
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He exhorted party leaders and workers to carry to the masses government's successes and counter Congress's "unfounded allegations". (PTI)
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9. Amit Shah: Taking a dig at Congress for its criticism of BJP over alleged intolerance, he said the UPA government had acted against internet giant Google for allegedly showing a cartoon against Congress president Sonia Gandhi "while I keep all cartoons against me on my website". Asked whether his relationship with the Gandhi family is not good, Shah said, "It is true that the relationship is not good. As far as I am concerned, the relationship is not good. I do not know about them."
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10. Amit Shah: BJP chief said BJP was on course to achieve its target of a "Congress-free India" and cited the election results in some states as example. Asked about BJP's prospects in five states, Shah reacted cautiously. "Party will work to increase its influence and to play a role in government formation in these states." (PTI)
