Priyanka Gandhi no big deal, will win more seats than 2014, says Amit Shah

BJP president Amit Shah on Monday said that Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi was not a big deal for them and the saffron party. Shah also reaffirmed confidence in Narendra Modi and said that the BJP and its allies in NDA will improve their numbers in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"Media covers Priyanka drinking water, putting on lipstick. That’s not a big deal for us. She has been in politics for 12 years now, this is the 13th," the BJP chief said at News18’s Agenda India summit.

When asked about the BJP making nationalism as an election issue, Shah said, "What’s wrong in fighting elections on the basis of nationalism? I want every election to be fought on the basis of nationalism."

Speaking about Congress president’s NYAY scheme, Shah said that there was no dearth of schemes and one should have will to implement which Prime Minister Modi has.

"There is no dearth of schemes. Their effectiveness lies in implementation. From Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi to Sonia Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi... they have announced schemes, but five generations later, we are still poor. Why? Slogans are useless, one needs to have the will to implement schemes, which Modiji has," the BJP chief said.

Rahul Gandhi has announced to launch 'Nyunatam Aay Yojana' (Nyay) scheme if Congress elected to power. He promised Rs 72,000 per year to five crore poor families under the minimum income guarantee scheme.

On Rahul Gandhi’s decision to pick Kerala’s Wayanad as the second seat, he said that Smriti Irani, who is BJP’s candidate from Congress chief’s first seat Amethi, has visited the constituency more than Rahul in the last five years and it was getting tough for him to win the seat this time.

"Amethi is tough for him this time. In the last five year, Smriti Irani has visited Amethi more than Rahul Gandhi has. I’m not saying he ran away to Wayanad because Amethi is tough for him...," he added.