Not 'vikas' but Congress, on verge of extinction, has gone crazy: BJP tells Rahul

NEW DELHI: Buoyed by its performance in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP on Tuesday rejected Rahul Gandhi's claim that the Gujarat poll result was a "massive jolt" to the party, saying it was actually a setback for the Congress as it was on the verge of "extinction". Earlier on Tuesday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had said the Gujarat election results raise questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credibility after he led the BJP to a narrow victory in the state. Gandhi also hit out at Modi's Gujarat model of development, describing it as "good propaganda" and marketing, but "hollow from within". Addressing a press conference here, Union Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar told reporters, "Yesterday (Monday) the BJP won Gujarat for the sixth consecutive time and also got the mandate in Himachal Pradesh. But today a new definition has emerged as Rahul Gandhi described the results as a setback for the BJP." "We have won for the sixth time in Gujarat, which no one could manage to get, and got two-thirds majority in Himachal Pradesh. Even our vote share has increased," he claimed.

BJP mission and vision is 'Vikas' (development). Our credibility stands accepted by the people. Congress is losing its credibility : Shri @PrakashJavdekar https://t.co/O0Uw2lowwj pic.twitter.com/rgCulv80y4

— BJP LIVE (@BJPLive) December 19, 2017

He criticised Gandhi for attacking Modi and claiming that his development model has failed. Javadekar said, "People have voted for his development model. "What is Gujarat's message?" he asked, adding that people of the state have rejected Congress' "casteist politics". "And I can say that the development has not gone crazy, but the Congress has," the Minister said. Javadekar was reacting to the Congress President's remarks that the Gujarat election result has dealt a "massive jolt" to the BJP and raised questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credibility because of his silence on corruption charges including BJP chief Amit Shah's son Jay Shah's meteoric business rise. "Those who were saying that development has gone mad, people gave them a severe jolt by reposing their faith in the BJP," he said. He said that if Rahul Gandhi thinks that it was a jolt for BJP then either "he is changing the definition of jolt or trying not to understand it". He also said that it is the reason why jolt was given to the Congress or "else there is no chance of improvement for them". The BJP leader said that since 2014, BJP has formed governments in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Assam, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. "While under Rahul Gandhi's leadership they have lost since 2014," he said. "Today BJP is in power in 19 states. In all assembly constituency seats of Amethi (Gandhi's Parliamentary constituency), in Uttar Pradesh, they fought on 400 seats (civic polls) but could only manage seven seats," he said. "Where is Congress? Congress is on the verge of extinction while the BJP is rising," he said. He also described the Congress leader's charges against the BJP as "an insult to democracy and people's mandate". Slamming the Gandhi scion for questioning the 36 Rafale fighter jets deal with France, Javadekar said, "The government-to-government Rafale deal is fully transparent as no middlemen, commission or corruption is involved in it. "It is not Bofors... it is Rafale. And it is an example of transparency," the BJP leader said. "But they are questioning it because, for them, defence deal means corruption and commission," he said. The BJP leader also defended party President Amit Shah's son Jay Shah's business saying that he tried to do business in which he incurred losses. "They cannot understand the difference between the turnover and profit," he said. "Jay Shah's company made a turnover of Rs 80 crore but at the end he incurred losses. And Rahul Gandhi is questioning Modi's silence on that," he said. "We are replying on that charge and we shall explain what is the difference in the nature of the businesses of Jay Shah and (Gandhi's brother-in-law) Robert Vadra," he said. "Jay Shah did not get any government contract or tender and incurred losses in his business. "While Vadra, bought the land for Rs 8 crore and got the loan amount of the same amount from the person from whom he bought the land. And after two to three months the prices of that land increased from Rs 8 crore to Rs 50 crore as the government changed the rules," he said. "And when such things happen that is called a scam," he said, adding, "This (Jay Shah turnover) is not a scam, but it is an initiative to do business." (With inputs from IANS)