Union minister Kiren Rijiju has hit out at Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi for his allegations that the BJP stole last year’s Haryana elections from the Congress.
“Our Haryana chief minister said one line: that we will win the elections. We have a good system. What does system mean? BJP, our discipline, our cadre, our workers, the dedication of our leaders, the sacrifice of our workers.... That’s why we confidently say that we will win the elections. We keep working 24 hours a day. I have not seen my village or home for three or four months at a time in my life, walking on foot to different places (for work),” Rijiju said.
Congress MP Rahul had bolstered his claims by playing clips of Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini and Kerala BJP vice-president B. Gopalakrishnan.
Saini was heard replying to a reporter just before the Assembly poll results last year: “I have said from the beginning that the BJP is forming a majority government (ek tarfa sarkar). Hamare paas sabhi vyavasthaen hain (We have all the arrangements in place.)”
Rahul interpreted the chief minister’s grin as an admission of guilt of electoral malpractice.
In August, Gopalakrishnan had told reporters: “We will bring people from Jammu and Kashmir, have them stay for a year, and vote in the constituencies we intend to win.”
Any eligible Indian adult is entitled to vote in the place they are a resident of.
Rijiju did not refer to Gopalakrishnan’s remarks. However, he did refer to Rahul’s point on Haryana opinion polls predicting a win
for the Congress.
He said: “In 2004, we were sure we would win. That’s what we believed, and the exit polls and opinion polls were clearly showing a victory for the BJP and NDA. But when the counting happened, we lost. At that time, we didn’t cry or complain. We didn’t abuse the Election Commission.”
BJP leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao published a book in 2010 questioning the reliability of EVMs. Rijiju added: “(Former Union minister of the Congress) Kumari Selja said at that time that the Congress would not be able to win in Haryana because the Congress leaders of Haryana themselves want to defeat them. Just three days ago, one of their former ministers resigned from the Congress and said that the Congress lost in Haryana because the Congress leaders themselves were not working and were causing their own defeat.
“And then the state president of the Congress there, his name is Rao Narendra Singh, said that there is no coordination at the grassroots level within the Congress. How can they win when their own leaders are saying that they lost because of themselves, and here Rahul Gandhi is saying that the votes were stolen,” he said.
Haryana's chief electoral officer (CEO) retweeted his letter to Rahul in August, in which the Congress leader was asked to file objections for each entry on the voter's list, on oath. The CEO had issued statistics on the polls, mentioning dates on which draft rolls, final rolls and rolls finalised after the last date of withdrawal of nominations were shared with recognised parties and candidates. There were 86,790 polling agents in Haryana’s 20,632 booths. No candidate filed objections on the day after polling.
CPM general secretary M.A. Baby posted on X: “LoP @RahulGandhi has made shocking revelations in his press conference today. So far, in response to all such allegations, the ECI has given evasive replies which have created colossal damage to its credibility. It is up to the constitutional body to regain the people’s trust and ensure its legitimacy.”