Priyanka’s clerk: BJP on Cong’s Amethi candidate

Raebareli : BJP’s Rae Bareli candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh has accused the Gandhi family of harbouring “hatred” for Rae Bareli-Amethi, and asked why they did not field a local leader but opted for “Priyanka Gandhi’s clerk” KL Sharma to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Amethi. Singh, who is taking on Rahul Gandhi in a high-profile electoral contest here, also claimed that the Gandhi scion will lose by a bigger margin than his mother Sonia Gandhi had won in the 2019 polls. Sonia Gandhi had beaten Singh in 2019 by over 1,67,000 votes.

However, this was the lowest margin of victory that Sonia Gandhi has had in the five elections, including a bypoll, that she has fought from the constituency. “People have great trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and under his leadership, the country as well as the hard-earned income of the people is safe. People of Rae Bareli also trust the prime minister,” Singh told PTI in an interview here.

“So, in such a scenario, I don’t think the Congress candidate will be able to hold his ground before the BJP candidate in Rae Bareli,” he said. Asked about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra camping in Rae Bareli and campaigning for her brother Rahul, Singh said it could be a topic of discussion for media people who have come from outside but her camping here was a non-issue for the people of Rae Bareli.

“In 2022 assembly polls, she stayed here and asked for votes in every nook and corner, but in all the assembly seats Priyanka Gandhi camped here and ran around, about 16,000 votes were bagged in assembly segments. Is it the same Priyanka Gandhi?” he said, taking a swipe at the Congress general secretary. “It can be of importance to you but she holds no importance for people of Rae Bareli. She can stay here, it will be very good. She made so many promises in the 2019 polls and till 2024, leave alone fulfilling those promises, she did not even stand with the people in their happy and sad times,” the BJP leader alleged.

Speaking in local dialect, he said, “’Aaj nikli hain, humka andaza hai kauno gaon bachi na jahan belana liye mahilayein khadi na hui hain, inka swagat kare ke liye’ (I have an idea that when she goes out to the villages, women would welcome her with batons in their hands).” Singh alleged that the Gandhi family has hatred for Rae Bareli-Amethi and that is why it neither fielded anyone from there in the Lok Sabha polls since 1952 nor sent any native person to Rajya Sabha.

“Rahul Gandhi ji has opened ‘mohabbat ki dukaan’. So much hatred is filled in the Gandhi family’s mind for Amethi-Rae Bareli. From 1952 till now, Gandhi family never gave a Lok Sabha ticket to a person born to a mother from Rae Bareli,” Singh claimed. No son of Rae Bareli was sent to Rajya Sabha and the Gandhi family did not make anyone from Rae Bareli even an MP’s representative.