Ask people whether they want Rahul as PM: Shah to BJP workers

'The BJP had won elections when the Akhlaq issue and award wapsi happened and the party will win this time too,' he said.

IMAGE: BJP president Amit Shah addresses during 'Enlightened Citizens Conference', in Jaipur, on Tuesday. Photograph: PTI Photo

Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Tuesday urged party workers to ask people whether they wanted Congress chief Rahul Gandhi as prime minister, Mamata Banerjee as foreign minister and Mulayam Singh Yadav as defence minister.

"You need to tell people about this," Shah said at a meeting during a one-day trip to the Rajasthan capital.

Shah asked them to work hard for winning the elections scheduled later this year without bothering about who would be the chief minister or a minister in the next government.

The party has already announced that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje would be the CM candidate again in Rajasthan.

"The results from the three major states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will set the trend for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," he said at a meeting in Jaipur during his one-day trip.

"The BJP's victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will pave the way for the party's rule for the next 50 years," Shah told BJP workers at 'Shakti Kendra Sammelan'.

He said the workers should think only about the party symbol 'lotus' and Bharat Mata when they campaign.

He said the 'mahagathbandhan', or the grand alliance, that the opposition is talking about will have no impact except a little influence in Uttar Pradesh.

Shah said the workers should ask people what they felt about having Congress president Rahul Gandhi as prime minister, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as external affairs minister and Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav as defence minister.

"You need to tell people about this. Go to the public and highlight the work done by the Modi and the Raje governments," he said.

He said no one can defeat the BJP in Rajasthan.

Targeting Congress, the BJP president said the party should first make clear who is its leader and what are its policies and programmes.

"Rahul baba has the right to dream but he will wake up on the day of counting," he said.

He claimed the Congress has tried to create a state of confusion in the country, and referred to lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri over alleged cow slaughter and the 2015 protest in which a group of writers returned their awards.

"During elections, issues like Akhlaq or 'award wapsi' come up," he said.

"The BJP had won elections when the Akhlaq issue and award wapsi happened and the party will win this time too even if they (Congress) bring up some other issue," he said.

"The Modi government or the Raje government has done nothing that you need to bow your head," he said.

Shah said every party worker should cover at least five villages till the elections and tell people about the work done by the government, like the surgical strike against Pakistan and the increase in minimum support price for farm produce.

This is Shah's third visit since July to the poll-bound state ruled by the party.