Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Chori’ allegation baseless, says Ram Madhav

BJP national vice-president V. Ram Madhav on Sunday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Chori’ allegation against the NDA government as baseless and condemned the Congress’s accusations against the Election Commission of India (ECI) as unwarranted.

Mr. Madhav was in Tirupati on a pilgrimage and watched the ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme along with party leaders. Speaking to the media later, he said the Opposition parties were unable to accept the people’s verdict in a democratic system and were therefore resorting to “wild allegations”.

He said the fear of successive electoral defeats was constantly haunting the Opposition parties. “The demeaning acts against constitutional bodies should be condemned by all,” he said, appealing to the public to stand by the constitutional institutions.

Mr. Madhav said the BJP would launch the ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’ from October 7 to mark the completion of 25 years of Narendra Modi’s public life in elected executive office, as Chief Minister and Prime Minister. He called upon party leaders and cadre to make the programme a grand success.

Addressing party cadre, he said the BJP’s political journey was not aimed at seeking power or positions, but at serving the people.

He directed the cadre to work with the objective of achieving a 100% strike rate by winning all the seats in the ensuing local body elections.

State vice-president Kola Anand, general secretary N. Ramesh Naidu, and State spokespersons Jalli Madhusudhan, S. Muni Subramanyam and Gali Pushpalatha were present.