Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday hit back at Congress over their decision to field Kishori Lal Sharma as the party candidate from the hotly contested Amethi Lok Sabha seat. Once considered to be a bastion of the Congress party, Irani said that the Gandhis' absence from the electoral fray in Amethi indicates that Congress has accepted their defeat even before the elections.
Speaking to reporters, she said, "The Gandhi family not being present in the election fray in Amethi indicates that the Congress party has accepted its defeat in Amethi even before the polling on the seat."
"Had they felt there was any chance of victory on the seat, they would have contested from here and not fielded their proxy," the incumbent MP and BJP leader added while asserting she will win the constituency again when it goes to polls on May 20.
Further, Irani also took a sharp dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who filed his nomination from Rae Bareli on Friday. Speaking about Gandhi's transition from Amethi to Wayanad to now filing nominations from Rae Bareli, Irani said, "The one who was not accepted by Amethi and fled to Wayanad will never fully belong to Rae Bareli."
"Also, the question is: he, in Wayanad, said it is his family. Now what will he say in Rae Bareli today?" she asked.
Rahul Gandhi, Kishori Lal Sharma file nomination from Rae Bareli, Amethi respectively
Significantly, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Kishori Lal Sharma on Friday filed their nominations from the Rae Bareli and Amethi seats in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by his mother Sonia Gandhi, sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, brother-in-law Robert Vadra, and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, submitted his nomination form today. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was also in Rae Bareli for the nomination filing, besides a large number of party workers and leaders. The two seats will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth of the seven-phase general election.
