Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi found himself under attack from the BJP in his parliamentary constituency on Tuesday, with Amit Shah slamming the Congress Vice-President for the lack of development in the region despite three generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family representing it in the Lok Sabha.
Union Minister Smriti Irani and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also joined the BJP President in attacking Rahul for “mocking” Gujarat’s development and said he “cannot see development as he sports Italian spectacles”, a reference to his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s Italian origins.
Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adityanath would ensure all-round development of Amethi, and the rest of the State.
“You have trusted a family for 60 years; now trust the BJP and Modi, and you will not feel betrayed,” Shah told the gathering in the presence of Adityanath and Irani, who had lost to Rahul in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Responding to Rahul’s repeated posers as to what the BJP had done during its rule, the BJP chief said: “...you (Rahul) have been MP here for a long time but why is there no Collector’s office, TB hospital and Akashwani’s FM here? Erosion of land due to the Gomti river has not been stopped.”
Slamming Gandhi for questioning development in Gujarat, Shah said, “I wish to ask the ‘shehzada’ (the prince) of the Congress as to what your three generations have given to Amethi?”
He said the Modi government had launched 106 schemes over the last three years and named some of those. “For the first time in 35-40 years, I am seeing that the winning candidate (Rahul Gandhi) remains missing from his constituency and a defeated candidate (Irani) is giving time to the people,” Shah said, hailing the work being done in the area by Irani.
Irani, while attacking Gandhi, said she wanted to address those who saw Amethi just from the point of view of votes.
She said Gandhi used to talk about development in the country and abroad and is mocking at Gujarat’s development but the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation here has not returned land taken from farmers.
Referring to the closure of a cycle factory, Irani said, “...the country was surprised that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, headed by Rahul, which did not do any commercial activities has purchased it. The land should be freed and given back to the farmers.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, a slew of projects were unveiled for Amethi and a number of foundation stones were laid, days after Rahul Gandhi had during his visit here accused the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh of re-inaugurating the projects launched by the previous UPA regime in the district.