Amid hectic campaigning in her parliamentary constituency, Minister Smriti Irani hit out at Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and claimed that people should keep their children away from the latter.
Irani was reacting to news of a viral video of a group of children raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Priyanka’s presence. While the authenticity of the video hasn’t been verified, Irani said, “She makes children abuse. She asked children to abuse the Prime Minister. You cannot use children for political campaigns. What will children learn out of this? I will ask all cultured families to keep their children away from Priyanka Gandhi. I am happy that the family which claims to be cultured stands unmasked.”
Talking to media, Irani said that the Congress was fighting a losing battle in UP. “We gave such a chase to Congress President that he had to literally run even after SP-BSP pledged support on this seat. This is not a fight between BJP & Congress, this is a genuine fight between people & a ‘lapata sansad’.”
Irani’s jibe was directed at Rahul Gandhi who is contesting from Amethi as well as Wayanad in Kerala.
Earlier, while addressing a gathering in Rae Bareli, Priyanka had taken a veiled dig at both the Prime Minister and the UP Chief Minister and said, “The Prime Minister did not get time to visit a single village of his constituency during five years. Had he talked to
farmers about their lives, he would have come to know what name the farmers have given to stray animals around them.”
To this, Irani said, “This is her real face. She is disrespecting a prime minister and a state chief. She denigrated Gorakhnath math adhyaksh (Yogi Adityanath). Will she do the same in Gorakhpur?”
As to Priyanka’s role, Irani said the former was standing in for her brother who had already ceded ground in Amethi. “Priyanka is not a candidate, in fact, her very presence here is recognition of Rahul’s incapacity,” she said.
Agencies
