'Voter Adhikar Yatra' row: Rahul on a political tourism, says union minister G Kishan Reddy

PATNA: Commenting on the just concluded Congress's ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra', led by party leader Rahul Gandhi, Union minister G Kishan Reddy, who was in Patna on Monday, said the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha was on a political tourism.

Addressing a press conference at the state BJP office, along with deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha, party's state president Dilip Jaiswal and Union minister Satish Kumar Dubey, Reddy recalled the 40 days he had spent in Bihar during the RJD rule. "Since then Bihar has come out of Maoist terror, corruption and gunda raj, and is moving ahead on the path of development. When I came to Bihar during the RJD rule, I saw electricity poles, but there was no light. Farmers were forced to commit suicide and youth had no employment opportunities. Not only this, bomb blasts also used to take place in Bihar," he said, accusing the RJD and Congress of stealing the name of Gandhiji. "They have stolen coal, National Herald, Commonwealth Games funds and even the fodder of our farmers," he said.


He contrasted this with the NDA govt under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has been working with "transparency for the last 11 years". "This is probably the only regime in independent India without a single corruption allegation on either the PM or any of his ministers. This is the biggest achievement of our govt and also a moral victory," Reddy said.

Attacking Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin, who participated in the Congress's Bihar yatra, Reddy said the people of Bihar know what the DMK leaders had said about them. "Today, the RJD and Congress are accusing us of vote theft. But, I want to ask Rahul was there no vote theft in Telangana where Congress won? You won in Himachal Pradesh. Was there no vote theft there," he asked.

He also raked up PM's insult from a Congress stage during the yatra. "In the last 11 years, Rahul and his Congressmen have insulted PM Modi, used very cheap, condemnable and vile words, but he never answers. The people of the country give a reply to Rahul and Congress every time. This time too, the people of Bihar will form the NDA govt and give them a reply," he said, adding the opposition is nervous due to the fast pace of development in India, which has emerged as the fourth largest economy of the world. "That is why the opposition parties are expressing distrust on the country's constitution, Parliament, judiciary, foreign policy, defence system, Army and even the Supreme Court. This is not good for a healthy democracy," Reddy said.