During a Lok Sabha election rally in Durgapur in West Burdwan district, while asking voters to make Modi the prime minister again, Amit Shah said, “In his 23 years as chief minister (of Gujarat) and prime minister, not a single complaint of corruption has been raised against Narendra Modi and not even of 25 paise. But cash worth crores of rupees is recovered from houses of TMC and Congress leaders. Those who have looted poor people’s money will be sent to jail”.
To bolster his claim, the Union home minister talked about the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s raids at multiple locations in Jharkhand’s capital of Ranchi on Monday morning. The Central agency said it recovered more than Rs 25 crore in cash from the possession of the house help of Sanjiv Lal, the personal secretary to Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam.
“From the house of a TMC minister, Rs 50 crore cash was recovered. In Jharkhand, cash worth over Rs 300 crore was recovered from the house of a Congress leader. Today, cash worth Rs 25 crore was recovered in Jharkhand. From where did they get this money? Whose money is this? Shouldn’t they be put behind bars for looting people’s money? If you elect Modiji as the PM again, strong proceedings will be initiated against anyone who will indulge in corruption.”
Shah once again used the “infiltrator vote bank jibe” to slam Mamata Banerjee for shielding Sheikh Shahjahan, the arrested TMC leader who is accused of carrying out atrocities against women in Sandeshkhali. “To protect her vote bank, Mamata Banerjee did not take any action against Sheikh Shahjahan. Out of fear of losing the support of infiltrators, Banerjee and her nephew (Abhishek Banerjee) did not attend the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya,” he added.
The Union minister was campaigning for Dilip Ghosh, the BJP’s candidate in the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat.
“We will reopen the closed factories in Durgapur if you elect Dilip Ghosh to Parliament. The TMC and its union leaders have stalled industrial development in Bengal. If we come to power again, we will bring fresh investment to develop steel and urea plants in Durgapur,” Shah said.
Earlier in the day, Shah attended a roadshow in the Krishnanagar constituency in Nadia district for BJP candidate Amrita Roy.
Bardhaman-Durgapur and Krishnanagar will vote on May 13 in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.