With Five Questions for Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah Embarks on Week-long Gujarat Campaign

Gandhidham (Gujarat): Launching a week-long campaign in poll-bound Gujarat, BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday posed five questions to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi which revolved around the Narmada Dam project and UPA-era grants to the state.

Speaking in Gandhidham in Kutch district, Shah posed the following questions to the Congress scion:

1. Why wasn't permission granted by the Congress government for the completion of the Narmada Project?

2. Why did Congress government not permit closing of Narmada Dam gates?

3. Why was no special grant given to the Rann or salt marshes in the Kutch region?

4. Why was Gandhinagar not given central grant when UPA was in power?

5. Why was crude oil royalty grant denied to Gujarat for many years by the UPA government?

Shah’s questions to Rahul Gandhi come a day after the Congress leader said the ‘satya’ (reality) of Gujarat was different from the one the BJP was portraying.

Addressing supporters in Patidar-dominated Varachha in the diamond hub of Surat, Rahul Gandhi said the reality of the BJP and Gujarat were two different things, and the fight was now between the two.

"You gave everything and wanted employment, education for your children, treatment for your ailment. Did you get it? Every time you click a selfie, a youth in China benefits," Gandhi said, speaking in Hindi, as the crowds screamed, "No, no."

Terming the small and mid-sized businessmen of Surat as the "only ones who can challenge the China story", Rahul Gandhi termed demonetisation and “hasty” implementation of GST as an “attack” on the people.

The Congress leader promised to return to Surat on November 8, when demonetisation completes one year, clashing with Amit Shah’s week-long schedule in the state.

Over the next six days, Amit Shah will travel to 33 districts of Gujarat, beginning with Kutch, Morbi and Surendranagar on Saturday.

Shah's tour is a precursor of sorts to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Gujarat campaign in the second week of November.

The state will hold two-phased elections on December 9 and 14 and the counting will take place on December 18.