Smriti Irani chases down old rival Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad, accuses him of “cheating” Amethi

Union minister Smirit Irani, who had defeated AICC leader Rahul Gandhi from the Congress stronghold Amethi in the last LS polls, held a mega roadshow in the latter’s Wayanad seat on Thursday, a day after Gandhi filed his nomination from the region.

Amethi in Uttar Pradesh had been held by four leaders from the Gandhi family in the past – Sanjay Gandhi, former PM Rajiv Gandhi, former AICC president Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul. Irani, who lost the 2014 polls against Rahul Gandhi from the seat, won it in 2019. The BJP is making a big push to campaign in Kerala, where it had failed to win even a single seat in 2019.

Irani, who was there to support BJP state president K Surenkdran as he filed his nomination, took a jibe at her old rival Gandhi, saying that after cheating the people of Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi, he was readying to do the same in Wayanad.


“In Amethi, four lakh families got toilets for the first time when [Narendra] Modi became Prime Minister. The Congress had ruled there for 50 years…Now, I have heard that they are calling the people of Wayanad their family. They [the Congress] cheated the people of Amethi in the name of family, and now they are aiming to do the same in Wayanad,” she said.

Irani also accused Gandhi of being ‘ashamed’ of party ally IUML as its flag was not shown during his roadshow a day before. “Either Rahul Gandhi is ashamed of getting support from the Muslim League or when he visits North India and visits temples, he will not be able to hide his association with the Muslim League. I am shocked after coming here to Wayanad that even after the ban of a terror outfit like PFI, Rahul Gandhi is taking support from PFI's political leadership,” she said.

Slamming the INDIA-alliance, she questioned who their Prime Ministerial candidate was and whether Gandhi was an acceptable choice for that position. If Gandhi could not be accepted as the leader of the bloc, how could he expect the same in Wayanad, she asked.