Aggressive Congress counters BJP’s campaign in Amethi

Lucknow: Barely days after BJP president Amit Shah questioned the contribution of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in his own constituency Amethi, the Congress has launched a campaign to counter the BJP propaganda against their leader.

The BJP, during a rally earlier this week, had questioned the the Gandhi family’s contribution—rather, lack of it—to Amethi which has been their family bastion for almost three and a half decades.

 The door-to-door campaign called “Kaam Hamara , Naam Tumhara – nahin chalega” has been launched by Congress workers in Amethi. The party workers are going from house to house with pamphlets that claim that at least 11 projects announced by the BJP leaders are those that were initiated in the UPA regime.

The four-page pamphlet has details of major projects started in Amethi between 1982 and 2014. It provides the information of each and every project brought to the constituency — from establishment of HAL unit in 1982, BHEL unit in Jagdishpur in 1983, Rail Neer Plant in 2014 to sanctioning of Central School and Sainik School in 2014.

The Congress claims that the BJP is taking credit for as many as 11 projects, which, they allege, were initiated by Rahul Gandhi.

The projects include a 200 bedded hospital in Tiloi sanctioned in 2014 at an estimated cost of Rs 90 crore, Sainik School sanctioned in Gauriganj area in the same year and also the Rajiv Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy in Fursatganj at a cost of Rs 200 crore.

The Congress also claimed that the Hotel Management Institute in Jagdishpur was sanctioned in 2013 at a cost of Rs 50 crore, new branch of SAIL was inaugurated in 2010 for Rs 100 crore, foundation of new rail line between Amethi and Unchahaar was laid in 2013 at a cost of around Rs 380 crore, foundation of multi-purpose complex at railway station in Amethi was laid in 2012-2013 at an estimated cost of Rs 1.25 crore while the Lucknow-Sultanpur National Highway-56 was converted into a four-lane project and sanctioned in 2012-2013 at a cost of Rs 1,565 crore.

UPCC president Raj Babbar said, “We will not allow the BJP to fool the people of Amethi and hijack the work done by Rahul Gandhi.”

When asked about the need for the Congress to offer an explanation to the people in Amethi this time, Mr Babbar said, “The BJP has mastered the art of spreading canards. They know how to fool people with words but we are not going to allow them to do this now. We will give them an answer and expose their every canard”.

Congress MLC Deepak Singh, along with former MLA Akhilesh Pratap Singh, has also launched the campaign on social media, targeting union minister Smriti Irani who launched a FM radio project in Amethi earlier this week.

The social media campaign shows photographs of  Mr Gandhi launching AIR FM Rainbow in Amethi on February 19, 2014.

It states that the project was launched at a cost of about Rs 50 lakh, but was stopped during the NDA regime and is now being re-launched after three years.