Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his party’s stance on the contentious National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam at a rally in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan on Saturday.

Addressing the 48-year-old Congress president as “Rahul baba”, Shah said that the Congress is eyeing the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh as a vote bank.

“Congress president should tell the people whether illegal Bangladeshi should be in India or not. Congress is actually looking at vote bank in this issue but the Modi government does not run on the basis of vote bank,” Shah said at the rally.

Shah also assailed the Congress over the SC/ST Act stating that instead of diluting the Act, as was being claimed by Congress, the BJP government has strengthened it. The bill to give the statutory status to the National Commission for Backward Classes was passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.

He said that the Modi government wants to give statutory status to the OBC Commission.

“When Rahul Baba comes to Rajasthan, ask him whether the Congress will support the bill in Rajya Sabha or not,” he said.

Shah was in Rajasthan to flag off Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s pre-poll tour ‘Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra’.

He said that Rajasthan had been ignored by the Congress government but the situation has changed under the BJP rule and now development works are happening there.

“Congress leaders here have said that they will ask 40 questions during the yatra. Rahul Baba also asks questions and seeks the account of works done by the BJP, but public is asking from you the account of works done by your four generations,” he said.

Shah said that the Narendra Modi government released two-and-a-half-times more funds to the state government as compared to the previous UPA government.

Talking about the schemes and programmes of the government, Shah said that the Modi government brought 116 schemes for people and the Raje government has touched upon all sections of the society in the state and carried out developmental works.

“Congress did nothing for development. Rajasthan which has been a glorious state became a ‘Bimaru’ state because of Congress but now under the leadership of Raje, the state is progressing and going to become a developed state. We have committed to form the government again,” he said while pitching for a second term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP chief flagged off the 58-day yatra from the Charbhujanath temple in Rajsamand district in the presence of CM Raje after offering prayers at the temple.

The ‘Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra’ will cover 165 of the total 200 assembly constituencies in the state before its culmination on September 30 in Ajmer just before the state heads to polls.

(With inputs from agencies.)