Rahul Baba, forget Gujarat, focus on Amethi: Amit Shah

Amethi: BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday mounted a blistering attack on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi from the latter’s parliamentary constituency and asked him to focus on Amethi instead of Gujarat.

Mr Shah, while addressing a rally in Amethi, ridiculed Mr Gandhi for questioning the development of Gujarat and said, “First come to your own constituency and see what development you have done here. You want us to give you an account of our work in three years but the people of Amethi want three generations of your family to give an account of what they have done here”.

“There are two models of development — the Nehru-Gandhi model and the Modi model. Rahul Gandhi is visiting Gujarat at this moment, there we have the Modi model which has provided constant electricity supply to all households, and there’s water and all facilities in all households. The Gandhi family did nothing for three decades. Gujarat’s people know the development it has seen; please look at your constituency, Rahul Baba. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi that why Amethi does not have a collector’s office and an office of All India Radio,” he said.

The BJP president said that he had come to Amethi on the invitation of Union minister Smriti Irani.

On the dais he was flanked by the Union minister for I&B and textiles, and UP chief minister Adityanath Yogi.

The BJP’s candidates have lost twice to Mr Gandhi in Amethi — in the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Ms Irani, who contested for the BJP from Amethi in 2014, managed to reduce the margin of the BJP’s loss, but could not register a win.  

“It is rare to find someone who continues to work for a constituency even after losing elections. It is in Amethi that I have seen that the candidate who has won never comes here while the one who lost keeps coming here to work for the people,” Mr Shah said. UP CM Adityanath assured the gathering that with the BJP in power at the Centre and the state, Amethi’s problems would be solved.

He asked people to work under the leadership of Ms Irani who was deeply concerned about the problems of the constituency.

The chief minister also said that it was the news of BJP president Amit Shah coming to Amethi that made Mr Gandhi spend three days in his constituency.

He further said that the conspiracy by “jija” (brother-in-law) and “beta” (son) to grab land for Samrat Cycles, under the name of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, will not be allowed.

In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, the BJP had won six of the 10 Assembly seats falling under the Amethi and Rae Bareli parliamentary constituencies. Four of these were in Amethi. The BJP wants to capitalise on this.

Addressing the rally, Ms Smriti Irani said that when she came to contest elections in Amethi, she had barely a fortnight to campaign. “I had promised then that irrespective of the result, I would continue to work for the development of Amethi. Today people believe me and call me didi with affection”, she said.

She announced that Mr Gandhi would lose elections and the lotus will finally bloom in Amethi in 2019. The BJP leaders later distributed certificates to beneficiaries of various welfare schemes and also inaugurated a slew of projects for the constituency.

Later, in Sitapur district, Mr Shah laid the foundation stone of BJP district offices in 51 districts across the state.