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Patna, November 9 (IANS) Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Sunday took a dig at Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his allegation of ‘vote theft’, saying the Congress leader would have nothing to gain by repeatedly raising the issue and the NDA ‘does not pay attention’ to his words.
His comments come after Gandhi on November 5 reiterated her allegations of large-scale voter fraud, claiming that alleged “vote theft” was not limited to a few constituencies like Aland and Mahadevapura, but was happening across the country to benefit the ruling BJP.
Gandhi had accused the Center and the Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding to “destroy the democratic fabric of the country” through a centralized and systemic effort aimed at manipulating election results.
He had further claimed that both the ECI and the BJP-led government were working hand in hand to weaken the constitutional framework and “steal not just constituencies but entire states”.
Expressing a strong reaction, Manjhi told IANS, “This makes it clear that he has accepted defeat. On the issue of vote theft, he came and did a ‘yatra’ for 11-12 days. What did he achieve? Now no one talks about it except him; he alone keeps talking about vote theft. He comes to Bihar only to abuse the Prime Minister’s mother. Later, when he came here, he saw that we were celebrating Chhath Puja. And he made fun of our faith by calling it ‘drama’. So don’t pay attention to what Rahul Gandhi says.
Confident about the NDA’s prospects in the ongoing Bihar Assembly elections, Manjhi said, “In any case, our aim is to form a government like the earlier double engine government. In the recent polling on November 6, we are confident of winning around 80-85 seats, and on November 11, we expect to win the same number. At least, we are confident of winning 166 seats.”
–IANS
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