The Centre cannot pay for the migrant workers’ train fare but the BJP can spend crores on distributing phones for Amit Shah’s digital rally in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections later this year, the Congress alleged on Sunday.
At a virtual press conference, former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Prasad Singh said the BJP had been distributing phones for the past several days to listen to Mr. Shah’s virtual rally. He said crores had been spent on the digital rally when the State is fighting a grim COVID-19 battle. “Whether the money comes from PM CARES or the BJP’s coffers, what is clear is that whenever there is a BJP rally, they use money power to get people. The Centre doesn’t have money to ferry workers but the BJP has so much money ... Possibly one lakh phones have been distributed across districts,” he alleged.
“At a time the country is fighting COVID-19, the BJP is holding such political rallies. They are trying to lure the people of Bihar with their money power,” he said. Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said the voters are going to punish the ruling BJP-JD(U) alliance. “During ‘online’ Bihar rally, the BJP should have explained why till date the ‘offline’ promise of special package has not been fulfilled, why sons/daughters were made to wait in lines for over 60 days to return to their home,” Mr. Shergill said.
