'Thought he may go to Karachi or Lahore': Rajnath Singh's dig at Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'

Accusing the Congress of raising questions over the valour of armed forces, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday (March 2) said, its 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' was aimed at "launching" their leader Rahul Gandhi, and he thought that the latter may go to Karachi or Lahore as part of the march.

Kick-starting the second part of BJP's 'Vijay Sankapla Yatra', he appealed to the people to support the party in the Assembly elections, due by May, to form a government with two-third majority.

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The yatra from four different directions across the poll-bound State, in specially designed vehicles or "Rathas", are being launched by the party's central leaders in parts.

The first part was launched by BJP National President J P Nadda in Chamarajanagara district on Wednesday. "Do you know about the young Congress leader, he is being launched now, and for that they had the Bharat Jodo Yatra. India got divided during partition in 1947, so I thought Rahul Gandhi who was on Bharat Jodo Yatra may go to Karachi or Lahore, but he did not go there," Singh said.

Addressing a public meeting, the defence minister asked as to who did Gandhi try to jodo (unite), when the whole of India is united and together.

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"One cannot do politics for long by fooling people, only those who do politics with confidence and maintaining eye contact with the people can be successful, and only those in the BJP can do it," he said, as he hit out at the Congress accusing them of using slogans, 'Modi theri kabr khudegi' (Modi your grave will be dug).

"They are not digging Modi's grave, but are digging their own with such slogans. The amount of mud slinging that our Congress friends engage in against BJP and PM Modi, our Lotus will boom that much," Singh said.

Charging the Congress with raising questions on the courage and valour of our defence forces, he asked, "what happened to them?.... As the Defence Minister I want to say, we are proud of our Military forces, the kind of brave deeds they have done, if I say it openly, you will be even more proud."

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Earlier in the day, Singh visited Sangolli Rayanna's memorial and paid respects, following which he launched the Yatre. Sangolli Rayanna (1798-1831) was the army chief of the erstwhile Kittur Kingdom ruled by Rani Chennamma and fought against the British who hanged him to death from a Banyan tree near Nandagad in Belagavi district in 1831.

Singh said, this day and this public meeting is good for the BJP as election results for three north eastern states are being declared today, and among them in Tripura and Nagaland the party is forming the government once again, while in Meghalaya it has increased the number of seats.

The Defence Minister called on the people to take a resolve to form a BJP government in the state once again, and this time with two-third majority, to build a "New Karnataka".

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Pointing out that after the 2018 Assembly polls as there was no clear majority to any party, BJP could not serve the state for the entire five years term, Singh said, "it is the wish of the party and its leadership that this time we should get two-third majority in Karnataka and form the government."

The 20-day long yatra will culminate with a mega rally in the district headquarters town of Davangere on March 25 which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The yatra that will begin from four different places will consist of 10-12 leaders in each of them.

(With inputs from PTI)