Cong amended Constitution, accuses BJP of plans to change it: Gadkari

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said Congress made amendments to the Constitution when in power, but makes an "emotional pitch" now that the BJP will make changes to it. Speaking at multiple campaign rallies in Wardha district of Vidarbha ahead of the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections, Gadkari also said the BJP was a party of workers, while the Congress indulges in dynastic politics. "They make an emotional pitch that if the BJP gets 400 seats (in the Lok Sabha), the Constitution will be changed. They lie," he said at Deoli.
As per the Supreme Court judgement in the Kesavananda Bharti case, the salient features of the Constitution cannot be changed, said the Union road transport and highways minister. The Congress government led by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi amended the Constitution, he said. “They changed the Constitution, and they blame us. The Janata Party rectified it. How many times was the Constitution amended during Indira Gandhi’s tenure? But the Congress does not want to respond to this,” the BJP leader said.
Speaking at a rally in Arvi assembly constituency in the district, Gadkari said had the Congress given priority to rural India, farmers would not have died by suicide and there would have been less poverty in villages.“The BJP is a party of its workers. Here, a PM is not born to another PM, MP is not born to an MP, MLA is not born to an MLA,” he said. “In 75 years of India’s history, the Congress never gave priority to the development of the country’s rural areas. There were no roads in villages, no drinking water. Congress never seriously thought of the development of rural India. Had the rural India got priority, farmers would not have committed suicide, there would not have been poverty in the villages,” the Union minister said.