Launching a blistering attack on the Congress, Union Home minister Amit Shah accused the opposition party on Sunday of "preserving" Article 370 of the Constitution, due to which terrorism increased in the country.

He also asserted that the BJP will never allow another division of the country.

Addressing a Lok Sabha poll rally in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh, Shah said, "The Congress and the Samajwadi Party preserved (sambhal ke rakha) Article 370 for 70 years, due to which terrorism increased across the country.

"You made Modiji the prime minister for the second time and he abrogated Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019. In Kashmir, where the Army had to be taken along for hoisting the tricolour, at that same Lal Chowk (in Srinagar) now, the 'shobhayatra' of Lord Krishna is taken out." The rally was organised to garner support for B P Saroj, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the Machhlishahr Lok Sabha constituency in Jaunpur.

Claiming that Congress leaders say the country should be divided into two parts -- South India and North India, Shah said, "The Congress is not satisfied with dividing the country once, it wants to divide the country again. The BJP will never allow another division of the country." The senior BJP leader also accused the Congress of spreading the lie that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes to power for a third time, he will abolish reservation.

"Modiji has the majority for the last 10 years and he did not use it to abolish reservation. As long as the BJP has even one MP, no one can touch reservation," he said.

Posing a question to the SP and Congress, Shah said, "I want to ask (SP chief) Akhilesh Yadav and (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhi that your government was in power for 10 years, what did Uttar Pradesh get in that period? They gave Rs 4.9 lakh crore to Uttar Pradesh in 10 years, whereas Narendra Modi gave Rs 19.11 lakh crore." Machhlishahr will go to polls in the sixth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election on May 25.

Twelve candidates are in the fray from constituency and the main contest is between the BJP's B P Saroj and the SP's Priya Saroj.

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