Union Minister Smriti Irani on Rahul Gandhi’s Turf Today, to Meet Farmers Hit by Rain
Mangalore Today News Network
Amethi, May 12, 2015: What Rahul Gandhi has been doing in the rest of the country, union minister Smriti Irani will do in his Amethi today - offer solace to farmers whose crops have been destroyed by unseasonal rain.
The 39-year-old education minister landed in Lucknow this morning and is taking her latest battle with the Congress vice-president to his Lok Sabha constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, where she gave Mr Gandhi a run for his money in last year’s national election.
Her one-day, 200-kilometre tour is strategically timed - it comes only days before Mr Gandhi visits Amethi for the first time since he returned from his two-month sabbatical abroad.
Ms Irani is expected to attack Mr Gandhi, 44, on what she calls his infrequent visits to Amethi and neglect of the constituency. In Parliament last week, she took on Mr Gandhi when he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the closure of a food park in Amethi. The Congress leader accused the PM of practicing "politics of revenge".
Ms Irani hit back alleging that it was the tardiness of Mr Gandhi and his Congress, when in power, that led to the food processing plant being scrapped. "Did the MP take even eight steps to make the project a reality," she said.
The food park will be in focus today. While food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal will make a statement in Parliament on its cancellation today, the Congress in UP has vowed to launch protests on the issue during Ms Irani’s visit.
In Amethi, Ms Irani is also expected to counter Mr Gandhi’s allegations that the Modi Government’s land acquisition bill is "anti-farmer."
In the national elections last year, the BJP had parachuted Ms Irani in Amethi to take on Mr Gandhi, who has been winning the family bastion since 2004. Ms Irani put up a creditable performance, managing to reduce Rahul Gandhi’s winning margin.
She was rewarded with a top ministerial berth at the Centre.
Courtesy: NDTV