Amit Shah dares Rahul Gandhi to debate BJYM leaders over development

Amit Shah

BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday challenged Congress president Rahul Gandhi to a debate with any leader of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) on the development track record of the two parties in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

"I challenge Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi): decide the city, forum, date and time, and I will send the chief of my Yuva Morcha (youth wing) of that city and let there be a debate on development... (during) your 55 years of rule and (chief minister) Shivraj Singh Chouhan's 14 year-rule," Shah said, addressing a gathering here. However, he said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had much more to achieve.

"There is a lot to be done. (West) Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have to be won. Until the saffron flag of the BJP flutters from the south to the eastern coast, no BJP worker has the right to rest," he said. Shah stressed the victory in November 28 polls in Madhya Pradesh will boost the enthusiasm of party workers in West Bengal and provide some succour to "mothers of martyred party workers in Kerala". "MP victory should be so big that the BJP should win all elections from Panchayat to Parliament for the next 50 years," he said further.

Shah said BJP had won all the states which went to polls after 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the Gandhi scion should not "even dream" about winning in Madhya Pradesh. "Be it Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal, Goa, Gujarat, BJP won every state. How can you (Rahul Gandhi) even dream (of a victory in Madhya Pradesh)?" Shah asked.

Shah also accused former prime minister Manmohan Singh of not uttering a word while infiltrators sneaked into the country and beheaded Indian soldiers. "After the BJP came to power, they (terrorists from Pakistan) made the mistake of attacking our jawans at Uri at 3 AM and did not give a chance to retaliate. Twelve soldiers were killed," he said.

"On the tenth day (of the attack), Modi ordered our soldiers to retaliate. Our brave jawans conducted a surgical strike and took revenge," the BJP chief said. Earlier only the US and Israel were known for avenging the death of their soldiers, now India's name has been added to this list, he said.

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