In a bid to counter Rahul Gandhi, who has been championing the farmers’ cause, senior BJP leader and Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday visited the Congress vice president’s constituency, Amethi, where she held a ‘Kisan Panchayat’ and interacted with farmers affected by untimely rains.
However, the Gandhi scion, reacting to Irani’s Amethi visit, later said, “I hope that she gets the food park back.”
Smriti had earlier today attacked Rahul on his home turf on the food park issue, charging that he was more interested in protecting the interests of a business house and was ignoring the plight of farmers.
During her visit to Amethi, Smriti targeted Rahul and said, “When Rahul Gandhi spoke for the first time in Amethi, he was talking for a business house. He did not speak for the farmers of Amethi.”
“If you look at the documents of district officials, you will understand that from 2010 to 2014, the land was not provided by Congress. Whatever help had to be given for gas was not given for long,” she said to a question on the food park.
She said that the Amethi MP has been missing and the promises made by the “three generations of Congress” can only be fulfilled by the Narendra Modi government.
Reacting to the announcement on Rahul’s visit to Amethi, she said, “Rahul Gandhi’s timing is suspect, not mine. The timing of Mr. Gandhi is suspect. If you look at the announcement, there were some press reports about my visit here and one and a half hours after my announcement, Gandhi’s office announced his plans to come.”
“The MP of Amethi has been missing from here. I am glad, at least, to follow my footsteps, the people of Amethi will get to see him,” she said.
