BJP’s Rae Bareli Candidate Accuses Gandhi Family of Harbouring “Hatred” for Rae Bareli-Amethi

Rae Bareli, India - Dinesh Pratap Singh, the BJP’s candidate for Rae Bareli, has accused the Gandhi family of harbouring “hatred” for Rae Bareli-Amethi. He questioned why they did not field a local leader but instead opted for “Priyanka Gandhi’s clerk” to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Amethi.

Singh, who is challenging Rahul Gandhi in a high-profile electoral contest, also claimed that the Gandhi scion will lose by a larger margin than his mother, Sonia Gandhi, had won in the 2019 polls. Sonia Gandhi had defeated Singh in 2019 by over 1,67,000 votes, marking 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.

He further added, “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.”

When 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.

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.

He further claimed that 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.

“MP’s representatives have also been brought from outside. Today it is before the people. Could only a person brought from Ludhiana who is Priyanka Gandhi’s clerk fight the polls from Amethi? Were there no Congress leaders in Amethi?” he said.

Singh also refuted suggestions that Rae Bareli was an electoral fortress of the Congress.

“Fortress is one which has four-five MLAs, eight block pramukhs, 10 zila panchayat members from the party. The Congress does not have a pradhan or block pramukh, or MLA, MLC, or zila panchayat president,” he said Singh claimed the Congress doesn’t even have an MP and even though the certificate of MP is with Sonia Gandhi but on the grounds of principles, she is not the MP.

He concluded by saying, “Rahul Gandhi does not have the support of the parties that Sonia Gandhi did, so there is no doubt that the number of votes by which Sonia Gandhi won in 2019, Rahul Gandhi will lose by a bigger margin than that.”