Navapur Oct 19:Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday dared Congress leaderRahul Gandhi to declare that his party will restore provisions of Article 370in Jammu and Kashmir if voted to power.

Addressing a rally in Maharashtra''s tribal Nandurbardistrict, Shah said after Narendra Modi won the second term with a massivemandate in May this year, the first thing he did was to abrogate provisions ofArticle 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir."Due to thespecial provisions, Pakistan fomented terror in the state and over 40,000people died. Development in Kashmir came to a standstill. But Congress was notready to scrap the provisions. It was worried about its vote bank and not aboutthe national interest."No PM ever dared to take the decision. It was Modiwith his 56-inch chest who made the move," he said."Rahul Gandhi askswhat is the connection between Article 370 and Maharashtra. I dare him to declarethat if voted to power, his party would restore the provisions of Article 370.There is still one day to go for the assembly elections. See how the peoplewill react. Don''t you want Kashmir to be an integral part of India?" theUnion minister asked.Shah said Nandurbar has been included among the 115districts under the Modi government''s tribal development policy.

"In the next five years, Nandurbar will be developed asa premier tribal district in the country and Maharashtra as the number onestate," he asserted.The minister listed the development works beingundertaken by the state government and the Centre for tribal welfare."TheModi government decided to construct a memorial for tribal freedom fighters.Similarly, Eklavya Model Schools have been started," he said.Shah accusedthe Congress of using ''adivasis'' (tribals) only for votes and never workingfor their development.He also alleged that the Congress did not do anything forthe welfare of Other Backward Classes (OBC) in 55 years and said it was theModi government which gave constitutional status to the OBC Commission.