Lucknow: Union minister Smriti Irani on Saturday took a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is presently on a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar, and said that for her Amethi has been a centre of pilgrimage since the past four and a half years and she would continue working for the constituency.

The minister was speaking at a function held in Musafirkhana area where she inaugurated a Common Service Centre (CSC) and declared Pindara Thakur village as a ‘digital village’. The residents of Pindara Thakur would be linked with Wi-Fi Chaupal and can use 2 GB free data for 15 days to start with. Later, this service would be provided to them at cheaper rates. The minister also inaugurated an India Post Payment Bank branch at the head post office. She said that even though Rahul Gandhi was an MP from Amethi, he had not bothered to nurture the constituency. “Does he even come here regularly? It is the Modi government and now the Yogi government that is improving infrastructure in Amethi. It has already been proved that it is BJP, and not the Congress, which can ensure the development of the country”, she said.

In 2014, Ms Irani had lost the elections by over one lakh votes to Mr Gandhi.