Angered Smriti questions Rahul’s manhood

Amethi: Taking a dig at Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Union minister Smriti Irani on Friday, what seemed to be sarcastic comment, appeared to have questioned Rahul Gandhi’s “purusharth” (manhood) during a visit to Amethi.

Rahul chose to postpone his scheduled to visit Amethi so he could target Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal confirmed Congress sources unofficially, TelegraphIndia reports.

Smriti Irani, who had lost to Rahul by over one lakh votes from Amethi in 2014, compared Rahul’s purusharth with that of Amit Shah.

“(BJP) ke adhyaksh apne purusharth se bane hain; Rahul Gandhi apni mata ke ashirwad se Congress ke adhyaksh bane hain (The BJP president earned his post through his manhood, Rahul got his thanks to his mother’s blessings),” the textiles minister said.

She also claimed that Amethi developed under Modi’s rule, and said “Amethi ka vikas Rahul Gandhi ke purusharth ko chunauti hai (The development of Amethi is a challenge to Rahul Gandhi’s manhood).”

Replying to her comment, State Congress spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi frowned over Irani’s words, saying the “people of the country are hearing the language of Irani”.

“Irani may have visited Amethi 16 or 17 times since 2014 but Rahul has been staying there for days since his childhood and knows everyone. Whatever development we see in Amethi was done by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi,” he said.

“The Modi government took away the IIIT and Hindustan Paper Mill from there.”

Rahul’s Amethi representative Chandrakant Dubey, however, told reporters the Congress chief’s two-day programme from Friday had been “deferred” but gave no reasons.

“Rahul was to reach Fursatganj airport in Amethi at 5 pm today (Friday) but the party decided in the afternoon that he should stay in New Delhi to seek answers from the Prime Minister on the Rafale corruption. He is likely to be in the constituency on December 22 and 23,” said a Senior Congress leader.

Friday was the first time since 2014 that Rahul and Irani had both scheduled meetings in Amethi but Rahul changed his plans which probably seemed to angered Smiriti Irani.

When Irani’s was asked whether the saffron party is insecure after its defeats in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, she replied “We are still ruling most states.”

She asked: “Why was Rahul Gandhi silent when the Madhya Pradesh chief minister spoke against migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar? How will he look the people of Amethi in the eye?”