Dehradun: Hitting back at AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi for comparing rebel Congress leaders joining BJP with "garbage", Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said Congress was a sinking ship which was being deserted by everyone.


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"A Congress leader yesterday said BJP had picked up its garbage. Now that they (rebel leaders) are with us you are comparing them with garbage. You should realise that Congress is a sinking ship which is being deserted by everyone," he said addressing an election meeting in Doiwala area here as the campaigning for the February 15 Uttarakhand Assembly polls came to an end.


On Congress's charge that BJP had engineered defections in the party, Singh said his party was not responsible for the "sorry state" of Congress.


"No one else is to be blamed for what has happened to you (Congress). Your boat had a hole through which water entered into it," he said in reference to as many as 12 Congress MLAs deserting the party and joining BJP recently.BJP recently.


Exhorting people to give BJP a chance to serve them for five years, the Home Minister said the 2014 Lok Sabha polls were a turning point in the country's electoral history as people for the first time gave absolute majority to a non-Congress government at the Centre.


"The result of their verdict is for everyone to see. India is the fastest growing economy in the world today. It has been acknowledged by economists all over the world.


"In the last two and a half years of the Modi government, there has not been a single corruption charge against any Central minister. The country's prestige has increased internationally under the strong leadership of Narendra Modi," Singh said.


The senior BJP leader also hailed the government for the PoK surgical strikes carried out last year.


"The surgical strikes gave a message to the whole world that we are a peace loving country with no expansionist ambitions and want friendly relations with our neighbours, but if provoked, we will retaliate. Both sensitivity and courage are needed to run a democracy," he said.


Accusing the Congress governments of doing nothing for the hill state despite being in power for 10 years there, Singh said "people of the state will have to make the lotus bloom if they wanted a clean government capable of bringing about real development."


Earlier, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti asked people to vote overwhelmingly in favour of BJP saying the Congress-led state government was the main roadblock in the path of its development.


"A BJP government in the state will ensure early completion of the Rs 12,000 crore all-weather chardham roads as well as projects related to Namami Gange," she said.