NEW DELHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his claim of possessing “atom bomb of evidence” that would allegedly expose the election commission’s malpractice of “vote theft” in Bihar, according to the news agency PTI. Singh was addressing a function in Patna, where he referred to the upcoming Bihar polls as one at a crossroad, “with one path (under NDA) leading to further progress and another (under the INDIA bloc) taking Bihar back to its old era of lawlessness and caste strife”.
“Rahul Gandhi says he is in possession of an atom bomb. If it is so, he should detonate it at once. He should just ensure that he is himself out of harm’s way”, the defence minister added.The former BJP president went on to say the country hasn’t forgotten earlier claims of the leader of opposition, all of which turned out to be nothing but letdown. “He had threatened Parliament of an earthquake, but when he spoke, it turned out to be a damp squib,” the BJP leader said, as quoted by the news agency.The veteran leader reaffirmed the trust in the election commission, saying the commission’s institutional integrity is widely respected, and it is working to make the upcoming elections free and fair.“It is pulling out all the stops to ensure that the upcoming assembly polls in the state are held in a free and fair manner. It does not behove the Leader of the Opposition to make frivolous statements about a constitutional body,” Singh said.The union minister also called out Gandhi for Congress’s history saying, “his own party has blood on its hands, having tried to murder democracy in 1975 with the imposition of Emergency”.He also praised alliance partner Nitish Kumar for playing a key role in transforming the state during his 20-year tenure in Bihar.“Under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, Bihar is no longer seen as a basket case. Even an internationally reputed magazine like The Economist, which had once condemned the state as the armpit of India, is now taking note of its turnaround”, said Singh, quoted PTI.