Udaipur (Rajasthan), April 20: Home Minister Amit Shah took to the streets of Udaipur, Rajasthan, for a roadshow on Friday evening, following the conclusion of voting for the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. During the event, Shah took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, ridiculing his previous forecasts of turmoil in Kashmir.
“In Kashmir, (Peoples Democratic Party chief) Mehbooba Mufti and (Congress leader) Rahul Baba (Gandhi) used to say there would be bloodbath here once Article 370 is removed,” Shah remarked to the assembled crowd. “Rahul Baba, five years have passed (since the abrogation of Article 370). This is the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Leave alone the talk of the bloodbath, no one has the guts to throw a stone there,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Shah addressed a public meeting in Rajasthan’s Pali. The state is conducting polling in two phases, with 12 seats contested in the first phase and the remaining 13 scheduled for April 26.
Shah, eyeing a second consecutive term, filed his nomination for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat earlier in the day, accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. He faces Sonal Patel of the Congress party in the electoral fray. The first phase of voting in Gujarat, covering all 26 constituencies, will take place on May 7.
In the larger context of the Lok Sabha elections, the first phase of voting for 102 parliamentary constituencies across 21 states and Union Territories occurred on Friday. The elections are being held in seven phases to elect the 543 members of the 18th Lok Sabha, with results expected on June 4.
The subsequent phases are slated for April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. The last general elections in 2019 followed a similar seven-phase schedule.
