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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday launched a multi-pronged coordinated political onslaught on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, which stood out for both its planning and audacity.
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi held a well-attended rally in the Gandhi family pocket borough of Amethi, while senior BJP leaders released data as evidence of how poorly Amethi performs on development indicators and the ‘abysmal’ performance of Rahul Gandhi as a Parliamentarian. Rahul is a two-time sitting member of Parliament (MP) from Amethi, which goes to polls on Wednesday in the eighth phase of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Campaigning came to an end on Monday evening for 64 seats, including Amethi. The BJP’s high-pitched campaign on Monday was notable in the sense that it is rare for Congress’ opponents to expend so much energy and resources in either Amethi or Rae Bareli, the seat that Sonia Gandhi contests.
Modi held a rally in Amethi in support of Smriti Irani, BJP candidate against Rahul Gandhi from that Lok Sabha constituency, while in Delhi, senior leader Yashwant Sinha released a factsheet on the poor state of Amethi's development and on Rahul's record in the outgoing Lok Sabha.
The BJP, which fielded a political non-entity against Sonia in Rae Bareli with none in its senior leadership bothering to campaign in the constituency that voted on April 30, has taken up its Amethi fight with some determination.
Modi, in a subtle reference to Rahul’s younger sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra campaigning for her brother and stridently attacking Modi in the last fortnight, appealed to the people of Amethi to elect Irani, whom he called his “little sister”. “Everybody trusts their sisters. I trust my sister,” said Modi.
He brought into question the “imperial” nature of Gandhi family’s relation with Amethi, which he said was the most backward district in Uttar Pradesh. He said the Congress was lying if it claimed that state governments under the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) didn’t allow Amethi’s development. He said neither SP nor BSP governments would have objected to the development of Amethi, but the Congress did not show any intent to work for the betterment of the district.
“I want to do politics of badlav (change), not badla (revenge),” said Modi, as he asked the residents of Amethi to give him an opportunity to bring development to the district. “Give me 60 months. I would change it so drastically that it would become a model in how a backward district should be developed,” he noted.
Modi spoke on how little Amethi had developed in the last 40 years when a member of Nehru-Gandhi family has represented the constituency. Sanjay Gandhi was an MP in 1980; Rajiv Gandhi in 1982 to 1991; his confidant Satish Sharma from 1991 to 1998, Sonia Gandhi in 1999 to 2004 and Rahul since then.
Only once - in 1998 - did the seat elect a non-Congress MP. Modi in his speech and Jaitley in his blog criticised Priyanka’s “arrogance”. On Sunday, when she was asked about the challenge posed by Irani to her brother’s electoral prospects, Priyanka had curtly responded: “Who?”
Such political discourse is unseemly in a democracy, Modi said. “They aren’t an imperial family. Their arrogance is sky-high. I will tell them who Smriti Irani is. She is my little sister,” Modi said. He added the Gandhi family had done nothing for Amethi in the last 40 years.
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi held a well-attended rally in the Gandhi family pocket borough of Amethi, while senior BJP leaders released data as evidence of how poorly Amethi performs on development indicators and the ‘abysmal’ performance of Rahul Gandhi as a Parliamentarian. Rahul is a two-time sitting member of Parliament (MP) from Amethi, which goes to polls on Wednesday in the eighth phase of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Campaigning came to an end on Monday evening for 64 seats, including Amethi. The BJP’s high-pitched campaign on Monday was notable in the sense that it is rare for Congress’ opponents to expend so much energy and resources in either Amethi or Rae Bareli, the seat that Sonia Gandhi contests.
Modi held a rally in Amethi in support of Smriti Irani, BJP candidate against Rahul Gandhi from that Lok Sabha constituency, while in Delhi, senior leader Yashwant Sinha released a factsheet on the poor state of Amethi's development and on Rahul's record in the outgoing Lok Sabha.
The BJP, which fielded a political non-entity against Sonia in Rae Bareli with none in its senior leadership bothering to campaign in the constituency that voted on April 30, has taken up its Amethi fight with some determination.
Modi, in a subtle reference to Rahul’s younger sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra campaigning for her brother and stridently attacking Modi in the last fortnight, appealed to the people of Amethi to elect Irani, whom he called his “little sister”. “Everybody trusts their sisters. I trust my sister,” said Modi.
He brought into question the “imperial” nature of Gandhi family’s relation with Amethi, which he said was the most backward district in Uttar Pradesh. He said the Congress was lying if it claimed that state governments under the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) didn’t allow Amethi’s development. He said neither SP nor BSP governments would have objected to the development of Amethi, but the Congress did not show any intent to work for the betterment of the district.
“I want to do politics of badlav (change), not badla (revenge),” said Modi, as he asked the residents of Amethi to give him an opportunity to bring development to the district. “Give me 60 months. I would change it so drastically that it would become a model in how a backward district should be developed,” he noted.
Modi spoke on how little Amethi had developed in the last 40 years when a member of Nehru-Gandhi family has represented the constituency. Sanjay Gandhi was an MP in 1980; Rajiv Gandhi in 1982 to 1991; his confidant Satish Sharma from 1991 to 1998, Sonia Gandhi in 1999 to 2004 and Rahul since then.
Only once - in 1998 - did the seat elect a non-Congress MP. Modi in his speech and Jaitley in his blog criticised Priyanka’s “arrogance”. On Sunday, when she was asked about the challenge posed by Irani to her brother’s electoral prospects, Priyanka had curtly responded: “Who?”
Such political discourse is unseemly in a democracy, Modi said. “They aren’t an imperial family. Their arrogance is sky-high. I will tell them who Smriti Irani is. She is my little sister,” Modi said. He added the Gandhi family had done nothing for Amethi in the last 40 years.
