By IANS,
Hyderabad : Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi once again took on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue of terrorism, this time upping the ante in Andhra Pradesh as it held the first phase of assembly and Lok Sabha polls Thursday.
Addressing election meetings, he said it was the National Democratic Alliance government which had released terrorists in exchange for hostages in the Kandahar plane hijack case of 1999.
“The opposition says we are weak on terrorists but what did they do while in power?” he asked. “An Indian Airlines plane was hijacked. It was taken to Kandahar by the hijackers. The plane should have been stopped in India but it was not,” he said in Nellore.
“The government released terrorists from jail and sent them along with a central minister on a special plane to Kandahar. A few years later the same terrorists attacked the Indian parliament,” he said.
“They are the ones who bowed their head. They bent before terrorists and now they tell us that we are weak on terrorists,” he said.
“They say our prime minister is weak on terrorists. We have lost our leaders to terrorists. We have lost Indiraji and Rajivji to terrorists. They died but never bowed their head before terrorists,” he said.
The young MP addressed meetings in Kakinada, Kurnool and Nellore in south coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, which go to polls in the second phase of the general elections and assembly polls April 23.
“The Congress party will never come out with a slogan of India shining even if there is one person who remains poor, regardless of where he comes from and which religion he belongs to,” he said.
“I will not tell you that India is shining but I will tell you that during the last five years India has progressed, Andhra Pradesh has progressed. We will make the next five years even better than the last five years,” he said seeking another mandate for the Congress party both in the state and at the centre.
“My politics is very simple. It is to stand by the poor. Gandhiji is my biggest teacher. He said if you are faced with a difficult decision, just think about the poorest of the poor how that decision will affect them. Take that decision only if it benefits them.”