With his sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and their children Raihan and Miraya by his side, Congress president Rahul Gandhi took out a three-km roadshow atop a truck to the District Collectorate to file his nomination paper to contest the Amethi Lok Sabha seat.
Along with party flags, Congress workers waved blue flags publicising the minimum income guarantee promise of ₹72,000, as the roadshow moved from Munshiganj amid slogans declaring Mr. Gandhi as the next PM.
Sonia at hand
While UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi did not participate in the roadshow, she was present at the Collectorate during the filing of her son’s nomination, along with her daughter and son-in-law.
Later, Mr. Gandhi told presspersons that the Supreme Court decision in the Rafale case vindicated his claim that there was corruption in the case.
Mr. Gandhi said the court had “accepted that some sort of corruption has taken place in the Rafale case”.
“A few days ago, the PM gave an interview in which he told the journalist that the Supreme Court had given him a clean chit. Today, the Supreme Court has made it clear that chowkidarji committed a theft,” Mr. Gandhi said.
Mr. Gandhi said that if investigation was held in the Rafale case two names would emerge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Anil Ambani.
‘Vindicated’
“I am glad that what I have been saying for months that the PM of India stole the money of the Air Force and gave it to Anil Ambaniji ... he’s given ₹30,000 crore ... the Supreme Court has accepted that today and it is going to investigate [the matter],” said Mr. Gandhi.
The Congress president also used the occasion to once again challenge Mr. Modi to an open debate on the Rafale issue.
“The country wants to know about the Rafale issue, corruption and notebandi and about Amit Shah’s son,” he said.
Matter of prestige
Though Mr. Gandhi has decided to contest from a second seat, Wayanad in Kerala, this year, Amethi is still considered a matter of prestige for him and the party left no stone unturned to put up a show of strength on nomination day. In 2014, Mr. Gandhi withstood the ‘Modi wave’ and held his fort in Amethi but with a reduced margin of a little over a lakh votes.
He will face the BJP’s Smriti Irani again this election.
Later in a tweet, Mr. Gandhi said he shared a long relationship of ‘love and respect’ with Amethi.
