'One road show, 5 foreign trips won't win elections': Kiren Rijiju counters Rahul Gandhi's 'Gujarat victory' claim

Kiren Rijiju

A month after Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted that the INDIA block will emerge victorious in Gujarat by defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next assembly election, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, taking a jibe at Rahul, wrote that just one roadshow and five international trips thereafter will not help the Congress party to secure a victory.

Sharing the video on his X handle, Rijiju wrote, “He said Congress would win Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan etc.. After one road show, 5 foreign trips won’t win elections." “And speaking against India’s interest won’t make you a genuine leader," his post mentioned.

Rijiju's statement came hours after another of Rahul Gandhi’s speeches was widely shared on social media, wherein he questioned Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim on the BJP’s long-term political dominance, and attributed it to ‘vote chori‘ or vote theft.

While speaking at the Mazuffarpur rally on Wednesday, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of winning polls by "stealing votes with the help of the Election Commission (EC)". The rally is a part of the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra', led by Gandhi, who travelled from Darbhanga to Muzaffarpur, to stress voter rights and promote unity within the INDIA bloc.

Gandhi targeted Shah’s recent statement claiming the party would stay in power for the next 40 years, and said, “A few days ago, Amit Shah said that the BJP will remain in power for the next 40 years." “No one knows what would happen in politics, but Amit Shah knows the future for the next 40 years. How? Vote Chori," he asserted.

Meanwhile, in April, addressing a Sangathan Srijan Abhigyan, Rahul Gandhi told party workers that the route to defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) nationally was through Gujarat and only his party was capable of defeating them ideologically. The rally is a part of the 'Voter Adhikar Yatra', led by Gandhi, who travelled from Darbhanga to Muzaffarpur, to stress voter rights and promote unity within the INDIA bloc.

“This is a battle of ideologies. There are only two parties which have ideologies — one is the BJP and other is the Congress. And, only the Congress can defeat the BJP and the RSS. Gujarat is the most important State for the party because the path to BJP’s defeat goes through Gujarat,” the former Congress President stated in the same rally in North Gujarat.