Upping the ante against Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday slammed him for ignoring farmers in his Amethi constituency charging the Congress leader with failing to address their grievances.
Ms. Irani, who led a farmer’s delegation from Pipri village to Water Resource Minister Uma Bharti, said the villagers had boycotted the last Lok Sabha polls as neither the Congress leader nor any of his representative visited the village which faces the wrath of river Gomti during monsoons.
“This village belongs to a Lok Sabha constituency whose MP till today has not tried to address their issue. The villagers had boycotted the polls as they had lost faith in the democratic process.
“However, I have assured them that the Narendra Modi government will try to address the issues within the democratic process and restore their faith in the system,” Ms. Irani, who had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls from Amethi, told reporters in New Delhi.
The farmer’s delegation comprised BJP’s Amethi district president Durgesh Tripathi and some villagers from Pipri.
Ms. Bharti accused Mr. Gandhi of only “using his family name” for political gains and doing little for the cause of farmers in his constituency.
“It is heartening to see that Smriti has devoted attention to Amethi. She has come to my ministry with their grievances while look at the man (Rahul) who is only making good use of his family name,” she said.
Ms. Irani, who had hit out at Mr. Gandhi earlier for allegedly doing no development of his constituency despite the Congress-led UPA government being in power for 10 years, said had he visited the Pipri village he would have realised the sufferings of the villagers.
During a visit to the constituency last month, she had attacked him on the food park issue, charging that he was more interested in protecting the interests of a business house and was ignoring the plight of farmers.
Ms. Irani said Mr. Rahul has been “missing” from his constituency and that the dreams shown by three generations of Congress can only be fulfilled by the Narendra Modi government.
