Shah hits out at Rahul, rejects graft charges in Rafale deal
New Delhi, Aug 10 : BJP President Amit Shah on Friday hit out at Congress President Rahul Gandhi, saying he is not a "sahabzade" who has got the top post due to a family.
Shah also rejected charges of corruption levelled by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie in the Rafale fighter jet deal, saying credence should be given to the Defence Minister's statement and not those "who did not get jobs."
During an interview after unveilinga a book "Blueprint for an Economic Miracle" authored by Pradeep Gupta at Constitution Club, Shah expressed confidence that people of the country will again elect Narendra Modi as Prime Minister with a better mandate than it got in 2014.
Answering questions from the moderator, he refused to speak on Rahul Gandhi hugging the Prime Minister in Lok Sabha during the debate on no-confidence motion.
"I will not comment on it. It is not my level," he said.
But he took a jab at him when he was asked if the BJP will have to work hard to win assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
"Paseena bahana hamare swabhav me hai (working hard is in our nature)...hum koi sahabzade nahi hain jinko parampara me parivar mila hai (I am not sahabzade who has got family in tradition)," he said.
To a question over allegations of corruption in Rafale deal leveled by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, he said Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the base price of Rafale fighter aircraft negotiated by the Modi government is less than what was finalised by the UPA.
"Will you give importance to the Defence Minister's statement or those who did not get jobs," he said, adding the government has already clarified on the matter following Opposition charges.
He expressed the hope that the BJP will retain power in all the three states with a comfortable majority because the government in these states have addressed the concerns of the people.
Listing the achievements of the Modi government and the welfare schemes being run by it, he said the people have decided to again elect Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.
"There is no doubt about it," he said.
In response to a query about fugitives Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and others who left the country after allegedly looting public money, the BJP chief said the Modi government will take every step to bring them back.
"The process to bring them back is already on. There is fear among all those who loot public money," he said.
Asked about posters put up by Trinamool Congress against him a day before his rally in West Bengal, Shah said it has benefited him and people will attend the rally in large numbers.
"Our state unit has no money. These posters have given me publicity. Tomorrow there would be a huge gathering," he said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
