NEW DELHI: Congress on Tuesday hit back at Union home minister Amit Shah over his prediction of a resounding victory for the BJP-led NDA in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. Taking a dig at Shah, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal described his remarks as the “heights of irony”, questioning why the home minister was celebrating electoral victories while the opposition was protesting against alleged irregularities in the electoral system.“Heights of irony that Vote Chor Amit Shah is celebrating an election victory – when the whole problem is how they are destroying our electoral system,” Venugopal wrote on X.He also questioned Shah’s focus on the 2029 elections, claiming that the home minister’s remarks reflected concerns about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political position. Venugopal further alleged that Shah appeared nervous during his interaction with the media, claiming that he spoke only to what he called “Godi media” and did not take questions.“Mr. Shah, you should certainly be worried about surviving in office till 2029,” Venugopal added.Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also targeted Shah, reviving the opposition’s allegations of vote theft and accusing the home minister of relying on rhetoric rather than addressing concerns over the electoral process.“The Union home minister is back with his 3 Bs—Bombast, Bluff and Bluster,” Ramesh wrote on X.Calling Shah the “co-architect of Vote Chori”, Ramesh alleged that the BJP had already begun preparing to manipulate the 2029 elections.“The people know that the Constitutional right vote is their biggest power to hold authoritarian governments built on lies – like this one – accountable and send them packing,” he wrote, adding that the youth were among those taking to the streets.
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The Congress leaders’ remarks came after Shah, in his first comments on the ongoing protests demanding chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, predicted another crushing defeat for the Congress in 2029.Shah accused Rahul Gandhi and the opposition of pursuing negative politics, arguing that the Congress needed to introspect over its repeated electoral defeats. He maintained that voters continued to support PM Modi, the BJP and the NDA, citing recent bypolls and local body election results as evidence.Opposition leaders, including Rahul and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, joined INDIA bloc allies in a march for democracy in Delhi on Monday and vowed to continue their resistance against alleged electoral irregularities.
