Accusing the Congress of indulging in "politics of caste and appeasement", BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday said that the Congress decision to support Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani is a pre-planned move to take elections towards this purpose.
He alleged that the Congress "must be aware of Mewani's links with the Popular Front of India (PFI) that has been found indulging in anti-national activites", and that is why it did not give Mewani its own party symbol but "supported him from outside".
"Rahul Gandhi meets Jignesh Mewani and leaves one seat for him, that is, the Congress does not field its candidate on Vadgaon assembly seats in Banaskantha district. I believe there can't be any better example of vote bank politics than this," Shah said at a press conference here.
He said that the BJP is contesting elections "only on development plank".
"Ever since the BJP came to power in Gujarat in 1995, the state has achieved new milestones be it in ease of doing business, consistently high growth rate, higher per capita income, agricultural development or infrastructure development," the BJP chief said.
"I request to the people of Gujarat to reject the politics of vote bank and appeasement," he said.
--IANS
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