india

Updated: Mar 27, 2019 08:50 IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organised more than 250 rallies across the country on Tuesday, stepping up its attack on the Opposition on the issue of nationalism as well as Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s promise to provide ₹72,000 per annum to the 20% poorest families in India.

Tuesday was the second day of the BJP’s “Vijay Sankalp Sabha”, which the party had launched on Sunday to mobilise support for the April-May parliamentary elections.

Addressing a poll rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad, BJP president Amit Shah said Narendra Modi was the “only” prime minister who had responded strongly to terror activities emanating from Pakistan, likening the Centre’s response to the US action against terrorism.

“We launched an attack on Pakistan without any delay after the Pulwama attack, while the Opposition leaders were insisting on negotiation,” Shah said.

The BJP chief alleged the Opposition insulted the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troops who died in the Pulwama attack by asking questions on the number of casualties in the Balakot air strike.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Karnataka that the Congress is still relying on the “Garibi Hatao” [remove-poverty] slogan coined by former PM Indira Gandhi as it could not eliminate poverty during its rule.

“They are coming up with the ‘Garibi Hatao’ slogan again. Is that because they could not drive away poverty all these years?” she said at a press meet in Udupi referring to the basic minimum income (NYAY) scheme for poor families, a poll promise announced by Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj (Ghaziabad), Uma Bharati (Sonepat), Piyush Goyal (Vijaywada) Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath (Varanasi) were among those who addressed these meetings.