Hyderabad: Dismissing Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's criticism that the NDA government was celebrating completion of its two years in office when several states were facing drought, BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday said the party was only giving a report of its work to the people.
"Do you see celebration in this? This is not a celebration. I feel, taking government's work to people through the press, interacting directly with people, giving an account as per its mandate is not celebration," he said when asked about Gandhi's comments.
Alleging that Gandhi only made media statements and indulged in symbolism, Shah said the NDA government helped improve the lives of the poor.
"Rahul Gandhiji only makes statements. I want to ask him, what happened to that Kalavati at whose house you stayed. We have tried to provide electricity and also gas to her. He just got a photograph taken (with her)," he said.
Kalavati Bandurkar, a Vidarbha farmer widow shot to fame after Rahul Gandhi visited her in 2008 and narrated her plight in Parliament.
Asked about Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge's criticism on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign visits, he said Modi made less number of visits abroad in comparison to his predecessor Manmohan Singh.
"I want to make it clear that Prime Minister (Modi) made few visits than Manmohan Singh. But, the problem was nobody came to know in the country or in that country when he (Singh) visited. He used to read two pages of his speech in English. Sometimes even pages changed. He used to read Thailand's (speech) in Malaysia and Malaysia's (speech) in Thailand. Modiji is welcomed wherever he goes," he said.
Shah also gave a detailed account of the number of achievements of the NDA government in two years on various fronts.
Asked whether BJP would reach out to regional parties like TDP and TRS for passing bills in the Rajya Sabha as equations of strength were set to change, he said everybody in Rajya Sabha should support the government's development agenda irrespective of party politics.
"BJP's effort is to see that everybody should support the development agenda in Rajya Sabha irrespective of party politics. It is true that it will benefit us if the strength of our friends increases on every issue of development," Shah said.
On the Union Cabinet reshuffle, he said, "It is for the Prime Minister to decide. When it happens, you will get the information."
Unfazed by the criticism of ally Shiv Sena in Maharashtra against its ruling partner BJP, Shah said there was democracy within the NDA. "There is democracy in NDA. Don't worry about Shiv Sena, we will manage," he said.
When asked about measures to deal with drought situation in states, Shah claimed that the Prime Minister has held separate meetings with chief ministers (of affected states) instead of organising a meeting all of states. "The Centre understood the needs of each state for taking drought-relief measures," he said.
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