Rajnath Singh confident of winning from Lucknow, rubbishes accusations against PM Narendra Modi

Speaking to Zee News' Ravindra Kumar, Rajnath Singh reveals the Lok Sabha election 2019 has not been stressful for him because he is sure the love and support of the people are with BJP.

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New Delhi: Rajnath Singh does not believe in stressing over election results. Most of his composure comes from the confidence he has in a Bharatiya Janata Party win in Lok Sabha election 2019 and his own triumph in Lucknow parliamentary constituency.

Voting in Lucknow took place in the fifth phase on Monday with Rajnath facing off against Samajwadi Party candidate Poonam Sinha. Speaking to Zee News a day later, the Home Minister said that while he always relishes a solid electoral fight, the people are with the BJP. "I have never stressed over election in Lucknow. I have a lot of love from the people there. I don't believe anyone can challenge me as long as I have the love and support of the people in Lucknow," he said. "I said previously as well that I have no complaint against Poonam Sinha. The result on May 23 will reveal the outcome."

Poonam Sinha joined SP just last month and was named as the party's candidate to face Rajnath who had won from Lucknow seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha election by close to three lakh votes. The SP had - and continues to - hurl accusations towards BJP and Prime Minister Modi but Rajnath is not too perturbed by these either. "Anyone can make any accusations. The point of the matter is whethere they can substantiate those accusations with facts and evidence. There has been no charge or allegation of any worth against PM Modi in the last five years. People's trust in him has only increased in the past five years," he said, while also playing down SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's claim that the next PM would be from Uttar Pradesh.

Rajnath also took on Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for the manner in which they have campaigned this election season. "I think accusations have been made by them only for the sake of accusations. They have repeatedly raked up the non-issue of Rafale deal. The fact is that our PM understood the urgency of fighter planes being in short supply and therefore, took a quick decision. The matter was discussed between the governments of India and France. Will governments take bribes? How can someone even think like this," he said, adding that even TMC will have to pay a heavy price for its bravado. "The incidents of poll-related violence in West Bengal are extremely unfortunate. TMC will lose the election badly. Mamata did not even respond to PM's phone after Cyclone Fani. She is cheating the people of West Bengal."

The Home Minister also said that BJP will, moving forward, continue to have a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism. "We will not spare anyone conspiring against India and anyone who threatens our country. Congress has always been weak in this matter and now question surgical strikes. If such strikes happened when they were in power, why did they not tell the people of the country?" he said.

Lok Sabha election 2019 has been a bitter and intense battle so far between BJP, Congress and other political parties. With each side claiming that they will end up triumphant, the wait is on for counting day on May 23.