Smriti Irani accuses Gandhi family of capturing polling booths in Amethi: ‘Those who used to..’
Smriti Irani said that the party couldn't digest when an ordinary party worker defeated them and ended their long stint in Amethi.
In a scathing attack on the Congress, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday accused the Gandhi family of capturing polling booths during elections including in the erstwhile family bastion Amethi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that the party couldn't digest when an ordinary party worker defeated them and ended their long stint in Amethi. Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha elections.
"Why it (Amethi) hurts them so much, why they say that Smriti Irani has no 'aukaat' (status) because those who used to loot booths lost to an ordinary party worker," Smriti Irani told ANI in an interview.
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She alleged that "one of the Gandhi siblings" in the late 1990s told a senior journalist by identifying "these (party workers) capture the booths for us."
"You can check a New York Times story, which says when Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Rajmohan Gandhi contested against Rajiv Gandhi from Amethi, the Congress party captured 97 booths," Irani further alleged, according to ANI.
She also said that late former UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav also allegedly claimed of "transferring 1,00,000 votes" in favour of Rahul Gandhi in the 2014 elections.
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"Mulayam Singh Yadav on record, said in an interview that Sonia Gandhi in 2014 had requested him to help his son (Rahul Gandhi) in Amethi by transferring 1,00,000 votes," she alleged.
Irani also slammed the Congress party over their treatment of Maneka Gandhi, alleging that she was "stripped and assaulted" when she contested against Rajiv Gandhi from Amethi.
"When Maneka Gandhi contested against the Gandhi family from here (Amethi)...a young widow with a young child...literally she is stripped, she is assaulted. And the message goes in the region, that if we didn't leave her, how will we spare you?" Irani said.
"This whole subset, that is so enamoured by the giggling Gandhis, they don't realize the muck, violence, torture, they are capable of. Beneath that sheen, is so much of dirt," she added.
Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi in the Amethi constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
This time, she is pitted against Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma, a long-time loyalist of the Gandhi family. The Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) has also fielded Nanhe Singh Chauhan from the seat.
