Shah sounds poll bugle in U’khand

Haridwar: Describing the Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand as “one steeped in corruption”, BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday asked the people to dislodge it from power and help the lotus “bloom” in the state.
“With a BJP government at the Centre, it would be ideal if there is a BJP government in the state as well. That would ensure smooth implementation of development schemes conceived for the state by the Centre,” he said sounding the poll bugle from the party’s Shankhnad rally at Rishikul Maidan here. Asking the people to get rid of a “corrupt government embroiled in scams”, Shah said if they were looking for development, they should overthrow it in the 2017 Assembly polls in the state and let the lotus bloom.
Mocking at Congress for accusing BJP of “murdering democracy” in the hill state, Shah urged the people never to forget June 25, the date on which former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had declared Emergency and “muzzled the whole nation”.
“You should never forgive those who imposed Emergency and murdered democracy silencing a whole nation and reducing the media to a helpless mouthpiece of those in power,” he said.
Assuring that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “grandiose” plans for Uttarakhand, Shah said it was necessary to have a BJP government in the state to help those plans materialise. Taking a dig at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for “repeatedly asking” what has the BJP government done in the last two years, he said the party has given the country an “audible” Prime Minister in place of “one who was audible only to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi”. “You ask us what did we do? My answer is, we have given the country a Prime Minister who speaks,” he said. (PTI)