Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday wanted a guarantee from the electorate of Bihariganj in Madhepura district to ensure the victory of Subhashini Yadav, the daughter of veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav.
Speaking at an election meeting, Rahul Gandhi said Subhashini was not only the Congress candidate but the daughter of his ‘Guru’ as well. He claimed to have learnt a lot from Sharad Yadav.
This was in contrast to the action and behaviour of then Janata Dal (United) (JD-U) president Sharad Yadav who, ten years ago, had asked the people to dunk (bhasan or immerse) Rahul Gandhi in the river Ganga.
Speaking at an election rally at Fatuah on October 26, 2010, Sharad Yadav had said “Babua (the little boy) of Congress”, Rahul Gandhi, should be thrown into the Ganga flowing through Fatuah.
Sharad had accused the Congress of perpetuating dynasty politics. “From Motilal to Rahul Gandhi, it is a misfortune for the country,” he had commented.
He had described RJD as a party of husband and wife. Now, the RJD is supporting his daughter and Tejaswhi Prasad Yadav addressed four meetings in Madhepura on Tuesday.
Rahul addressed two election meetings in the neighbouring Araria district, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed an election meeting a day earlier.
The Congress leader said that his party was not afraid of the Modi voting machines and Modi's media during the elections. He predicted the Grand Alliance will win the assembly elections.
He regretted the fact that in the 2014 elections, Modi had announced he would create two crores jobs every year, but none got it. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had promised job opportunities for the migrant workers who returned from other states during the lockdown, but no one was given employment.
Rahul said that in the NDA election meetings, the youth wanted a response from the chief minister on his promise of jobs, the youth are threatened by the chief minister, chased away and thrashed by the police. Nitish not only didn’t help the distressed people during the lockdown, he rather prevented their entry into their villages also.
The Congress leader said that the Prime Minister in his election meeting said many unpleasant things about him, but Gandhi had only tried to spread love. “I won't budge an inch unless I defeat Mr Narendra Modi", he said.
Araria is a maize-growing area. Rahul raised the issue of minimum support price for the cash crop which is exported in absence of local markets. The Prime Minister has closed all mandis of agriculture produce, he said. Commenting on the Prime Minister’s claim that he has freed the farmers, Rahul said big industrialists have been freed from loans. He sarcastically commented, "In the absence of markets, where should farmers go for sell their produce, on the aeroplanes".
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections too, Rahul Gandhi had expressed doubts about the functioning of the EVMs. Former MP from Patna Saheb, Shatrughan Sinha too has expressed doubts about the fairness of EVMs and said in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, NDA was successful on 39 out of 40 seats. He asked the party workers to remain vigilant till counting.
Doubts about the fairness of EVMs started yesterday when some polling agents alleged buttons were pressed on the symbols of the RJD, but the signals were shown on BJP symbol. Atleast five such cases were confirmed causing replacement of the EVM.
