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Rajnath takes a dig at Rahul over seat shift
The Congress earlier announced that Rahul would contest from the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat and not Amethi, the constituency from where he lost to the BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019 after representing it for three consecutive terms.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for shifting his parliamentary seat to Rae Bareli, saying he (Rahul) could not gather the courage to contest from Amethi.
Rajnath was in Rohtak to address a BJP rally after party candidate Arvind Sharma filed his nomination. “Many Congress leaders wanted Rahul to contest from Amethi but he opted to run away from the battleground,” said Rajnath. “He could not gather the courage to contest from Amethi... I am concerned that he may be given a different name after running away from this battle,” Rajnath said wryly.
“People like him (Rahul Gandhi) want to lead the country. One should have a 56-inch chest to lead the country,” he said, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership for India’s growing economy and global power.
The Congress earlier announced that Rahul would contest from the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat and not Amethi, the constituency from where he lost to the BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019 after representing it for three consecutive terms.
“After these elections, the Congress will be wiped out,” Rajnath claimed, slamming the opposition party over Pakistani leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain’s praise for Rahul Gandhi. Hussain had earlier supported the Pulwama terror attack in India, he told the crowd. Rajnath drove a tractor and was accompanied by Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, former Haryana BJP chief OP Dhankar and Rohtak nominee Sharma.
Noting that Mahatma Gandhi had wished after Independence that the Congress should be dissolved and not be in politics, Rajath said people should fulfil his wish in the elections and finish off the main opposition party.
India under Modi has emerged as a strong country whose voice is heard globally, he said. Rajnath also accused the Congress of practising divisive politics and cited the recent row over its leader Sam Pitroda’s reference to inheritance tax to slam the party.
The defence minister said the BJP’s victory in the Lok Sabha polls has begun with its candidate getting elected unopposed from Surat and hit back at the Congress for its criticism of the ruling party, saying Congress nominees have been so far elected 20 times unopposed in several polls earlier.
CM Saini said that the BJP government has brought transparency in the recruitment process and provided good prices to farmers for their crops.
Rohtak has long been a bastion of Congress stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda before the BJP won it in 2019 as its candidate Arvind Sharma rode the ‘Modi wave’ to defeat his son Deepender Singh Hooda by a narrow margin of over 7,000 votes. Both candidates are in the fray again.
