Thu Sep 12 15:58:46 UTC 2024: ## Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid Claims Victory Margin Larger Than PM Modi’s
**Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir:** Lok Sabha MP Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has claimed that he won the recent Lok Sabha elections with a larger margin than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at the ‘Panchayat Aaj Tak’ event, Rashid asserted that he secured more votes in Baramulla than Modi did in Varanasi. This was Rashid’s first interview following his release from Tihar Jail on interim bail ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.
Rashid won the Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla by a margin of 2,04,142 votes, while PM Modi won the Varanasi seat by a margin of 1,52,513 votes. Rashid attributed his victory to a public referendum against the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019.
The Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) chief was released on interim bail from Tihar Jail on Wednesday, where he had been incarcerated in connection with a terror funding case. His release has been met with accusations from the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, who allege that the BJP-led central government released Rashid to fracture the opposition vote in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Rashid, however, has denied these accusations, instead taking a swipe at PM Modi’s “Naya Kashmir” stance. He also criticized National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti for their alleged role in the “destruction of Kashmir” and vowed to continue fighting for the people of the region.
The Baramulla MP directly targeted Omar Abdullah, whom he defeated in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, accusing him of hiding in London while Rashid spent five-and-a-half years in Tihar Jail.
First Piper 