New Delhi: Exuding confidence after the Congress decided not to field Rahul Gandhi against her in Amethi, Union Minister Smriti Irani has said this is a sign of the Congress conceding the 79th out of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 Lok Sabha seats to the BJP and that her party managing a clean sweep in the state is a possibility.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV on Friday, after it was revealed that Mr Gandhi, whom she had defeated in 2019, would not be contesting against her but would fight from Raebareli, Ms Irani said it was a matter of pride for her that “an ordinary BJP worker had sent the Gandhi family packing”. Raebareli was the only seat that the Congress had won in Uttar Pradesh in 2019.
Asked about how she saw the developments of the day, the Women And Child Development minister said, “I think the Congress nomination and the entire Gandhi family backing out from a battle in Amethi is significant because, as far as I am concerned, it is the proclamation of defeat of the Congress party from Amethi.”
On Kishori Lal Sharma, a Gandhi family loyalist who has worked in Amethi for 40 years, getting the ticket instead and the Congress claiming that it was giving a chance to a grassroots worker, Ms Irani said people who have seen enough politics would know when they are being “hoodwinked”.
“If there was an iota of chance of the Gandhi family winning, they would have fought the battle here in Amethi,” she claimed.
To a question on whether she would have wanted Rahul Gandhi to contest, Ms Irani said she had already created history in 2019 when she defeated the sitting Congress president.
“This is not the first time Mr Rahul Gandhi has run away from Amethi. He had run away in 2019 as well. The only difference is last time he sought comfort in Wayanad and this time he chose not to contest at all. So it is the second time Mr Gandhi shied away from a battle in Amethi,” she said.
Asked whether she would have like to challenge him in Amethi as well, she said, “I think you give him too much importance. I am a self-made woman. I have had a 2.5-decade successful career in media. I have been an MP. I have been announced as the World Economic Forum global leader in 2015 itself… I have done much in life. I don’t need a Rahul Gandhi chase to make my career or my name.”
“And by the way, I have done it without having a politician who is a father to me and the ‘karta dharta’ (prime mover) of an entire political organisation. So I have done it without comfort and at personal cost, Mr Gandhi, unfortunately, has not only let down his whole political organisation, but also his family legacy. I think it speaks volumes that an ordinary worker of the BJP could defeat the Gandhi scion. And, today, an ordinary worker of the BJP had the entire family packed away,” she added.
