"I feel pity for Smriti Irani...," Sanjay Raut on nomination of KL Sharma from Amethi

Addressing a press conference, Raut said, "I feel mercy and pity for Smriti Irani because now, she will lose to Rahul Gandhi's PA...This is a well-thought-out decision. KL Sharma is a loyal worker of the Congress party. He has worked for several years with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in Amethi."

He added further that people close to the Gandhi family have contested from Amethi in the past as well. "People close to the Gandhi family have fought from Amethi previously...Why is the BJP so concerned?... From RK Dhawan to many other people, several have contested from Amethi. Why does the BJP have an issue with this? They should contest their elections."

Raut praised KL Sharma by calling him a grassroot worker and said, "He is a grassroot worker. If a grassroot worker contests elections, what problem does the BJP have in that? He is a Congress worker only. He has not been brought from outside like the BJP brings people to contest elections. KL Sharma is winning the elections. This time he will defeat Smriti Irani."

After weeks of deliberations and speculations, Congress announced on Friday that Rahul Gandhi will be its candidate from the traditional Gandhi family stronghold of Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, while KL Sharma will contest from Amethi in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The Amethi seat has been represented by Rahul since 2004, and he remained a member of Parliament from the constituency until 2019. His father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, too, was an elected member of Amethi in the Lower House from 1981 till his death in 1991. Sonia Gandhi contested elections from there in 1999 before passing the baton on to Rahul in 2004.

Sharma will go head-to-head with Union Minister Smriti Irani, who claimed victory over Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, flipping the Congress bastion seat.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena leader also expressed his views regarding the voting percentage and said that action should be taken against people who on the day of voting go on leave. "It is a good thing that the voting percentage should be increased... At least 80 oer cent of people should vote, and I believe action should be taken against people who go on leave on the day of voting. If we want to save the democracy of the country, then the maximum number of people should vote."

On being asked about the joining of Sanjay Nirupam in the Shiv Sena, Raut said, "He has not joined our party, Shiv Sena. If someone goes to any other party, then we have nothing to do with it. It is Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena."

A day earlier, former Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam along with his wife and daughter joined Shiv Sena in the presence of Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, in Mumbai. (ANI)