New Delhi, Nov. 5 -- Dismissing Rahul Gandhi's claims of vote theft in the Haryana Assembly polls as "false and baseless", the ruling BJP on Wednesday accused the Congress leader of raising questions on the Election Commission (EC) to hide his failures and defame India's democracy.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju also accused Gandhi of trying to "instigate" the GenZ and asserted that such efforts will never succeed as India's youngsters are wise enough not to fall for such provocations.
The BJP leader's retort came hours after Gandhi cited electoral-list data from Haryana to claim that 25 lakh entries were "fake" and the poll victory in the state was "stolen" from the Congress last year.
Rahul said he has "100 per cent" proof of the malfeasance he has alleged.
Rijiju rejected his allegations as "baseless and false", and said he is alleging vote theft in the Haryana polls and abusing the EC, while his party colleagues have said the Congress lost the election due to its own reasons. "During the Haryana polls, their senior leader, Kumari Selja, had said the Congress will not be able to win because Haryana Congress leaders wanted the party to lose," he told a press conference at the BJP headquarters here.
"Three days ago, a former Congress minister resigned from the party and said the Congress lost the Haryana polls because its leaders were not working and were engaged in ensuring the party's defeat," Rijiju claimed.
Haryana Congress president Rao Narendra Singh had also said there was no coordination in the party at the grassroots level, he added.
Rijiju termed Gandhi's allegations "nonsensical and illogical", alleging that the Congress leader is repeatedly claiming vote theft to hide his failures and has now come up with "baseless" claims of irregularities in the Haryana election just to divert public attention.
"Polling will be held in Bihar in two days and he is telling the story of Haryana. This makes it clear that there is nothing left in Bihar (for the Congress). That is why he came up with the Haryana issue to divert public attention," the BJP leader said.
The Union minister for parliamentary affairs said the BJP wins elections because of the hard work of its workers and leaders, unlike the Congress.
"At the time of elections, he goes abroad. During a Parliament session, Rahul Gandhi silently goes to Cambodia and Thailand. When poll campaigns were underway in Bihar, he went to Colombia," he said. "This man abuses our country, system, judiciary, democratic institutions."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.