NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Rae Bareli, Dinesh Pratap Singh on Saturday took a dig at Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi
saying the congress leader has sent his ‘
peon
‘ to
contest
against Smriti Irani in
Amethi
.
“Does Rahul Gandhi really want to win Amethi and Raebareli? If he really wanted to win Amethi, why would he give a Lok Sabha ticket to his peon from Amethi? Rahul Gandhi will lose both Raebareli and Amethi seats,” he said.
“He (Rahul Gandhi) has run away from Amethi and as far as I believe, Rahul Gandhi will not ask for votes. There is Smriti Irani who just like a family gave love and respect to Amethi. Earlier, when the Gandhi family used to visit Amethi or Raebareli, there used to be ropes tied to separate the people and in between the ropes, the Gandhi family passed by waving their hands,” he further said.
The BJP candidate also accused Sonia Gandhi of leaving Raebareli out of fear of losing, “Sonia Gandhi left Raebareli in fear that if she loses, she will have to leave the ‘das Janpath’. He (Rahul Gandhi) came, filed a nomination and left for Delhi. Dinesh Pratap Singh after filing his nomination, started moving in the streets of the villages of Raebareli,” he said.
Singh also questioned the Gandhi family’s lack of remembrance for Feroze Gandhi, the first MP from the area and the father of Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi.
“Why doesn’t the Gandhi family remember Feroze Gandhi, who was the first MP, from here? Feroze Gandhi’s grave is 100 km away from here. Did Rahul Gandhi ever go there to offer flowers? In our culture, the relationship between grandfather and grandson is very sacred. If they do not believe in it, then they only consider the relationship as electoral,” said the BJP candidate.
Following weeks of speculation the grand old party on Friday announced that Rahul Gandhi would contest from Raebareli, while KL Sharma would face off against Smriti Irani in Amethi. The Amethi seat had been represented by Rahul Gandhi from 2004 to 2019, when he lost to Smriti Irani. Sonia Gandhi had also contested from Amethi in 1999 before passing the baton to Rahul in 2004.
(With inputs from agencies)
