Describing the Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand as "one steeped in corruption", Bharatiya Janata Party 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.
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 the Congress for accusing the 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. You had given the country a PM who could be heard either by you or Soniaji," he said, adding that the Congress' also left a legacy of scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore.
Rolling out a long list of schemes launched by the Modi government, especially for the poor, farmers and women, the BJP president said Rahul should pose the question to Rawat instead.
"While you (Rahul) relax and beat the heat in a foreign land, you ask us what did we do in two years. You better ask that question to your Harish Rawat whom the whole country saw negotiating a deal to buy back the support of disgruntled members of legislative assembly for Rs 5 crore each," said Shah referring to the sting CD controversy involving the Uttarakhand chief minister.
With his "track record of corruption", Rawat has no right to remain as the chief minister even for a minute, he said, exhorting the people to give BJP a mandate so that Centre's schemes, including distribution of free LPG connections to five crore poor by 2018, could be achieved in totality.
