NEW DELHI: The Congress has defended party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi, saying family strongholds Rae Bareli and Amethi were like a second home for the leaders and the locals fully support them.
“For Congress leaders, Sonia ji n Rahul ji, #Amethi is not a mere constituency as BJP leaders treat the place to be, it is their second home,” AICC general secretary in charge of Gujarat affairs Ashok Gehlot tweeted as Rahul campaigned in the state. “They have stood by all the people through thick and thin, likewise people of #Amethi have also supported them always,” Gehlot said shortly after BJP president Amit Shah charged the Gandhis of having neglected the area while addressing a rally in Amethi.
Party leaders listed a slew of projects that the previous Congress governments at the Centre had sanctioned for Amethi and Rae Bareli, including a footwear design and development institute, Rajiv Gandhi institute of petroleum technology, Rajiv Gandhi national aviation university, CRPF training centre, SAIL plant, Rail Neer plant and Ordnance factory among others to counter the BJP attack.
“Rahulji’s style is to work more talk less,” party’s social media in-charge Divya Spandana said.
Taking a dig at the BJP chief, Randeep Surjewala, chief of Congress communication department, asked Shah if he would visit Gorakhpur, where 460 children have died in past three months. “Amit Shahji, when are you visiting Gorakhpur? If Shahji had given development advise to UP CM Adityanath, 460 children would not have lost their lives in the past three months,” Surjewala tweeted in Hindi.
The Congress has been attacking UP CM Yogi Adityanath, who is five-term Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur, over the spate of child deaths in the BRD hospital in the town. According to an AICC functionary, the BJP was targeting Rahul Gandhi in Amethi as his recent campaigns in Gujarat had generated positive response and unnerved the saffron party. UP Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh claimed Union minister Smriti Irani had lost the Amethi Lok Sabha seat to Rahul in 2014 and would be defeated in the 2019 polls as well.