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The series of attacks by BJP and Congress has still not stopped after Congress fielded KL Sharma from Amethi. The BJP candidate from Raebareli, Dinesh Pratap Singh, took a dig at Rahul Gandhi and said that the Congress leader has sent his peon to contest from Amethi against BJP's Smriti Irani.
Speaking with ANI, Dinesh Pratap Singh said, "Does Rahul Gandhi really want to win Amethi and Raebareli? If he really wanted to win Amethi, why would he give a Lok Sabha ticket to his peon from Amethi? Rahul Gandhi will lose both Raebareli and Amethi seats." Singh added further, "He (Rahul Gandhi) has run away from Amethi and as far as I believe, Rahul Gandhi will not ask for votes. There is Smriti Irani who just like a family gave love and respect to Amethi. Earlier, when the Gandhi family used to visit Amethi or Raebareli, there used to be ropes tied to separate the people and in between the ropes, the Gandhi family passed by waving their hands." "But, now the people's wait of centuries of love and affection is being fulfilled, relations are building up. The part of the family is Dinesh Pratap Singh and Smriti Irani and not the Gandhi family..." The BJP candidate also took a dig at Sonia Gandhi and said that she left Raebareli out of fear. "Sonia Gandhi left Raebareli in fear that if she loses, she will have to leave the 'das Janpath'. He (Rahul Gandhi) came, filed a nomination and left for Delhi. Dinesh Pratap Singh after filing his nomination, started moving in the streets of the villages of Raebareli..." Singh also criticised the Gandhi family for not remembering Feroze Gandhi, the father of Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. He said, "Why doesn't the Gandhi family remember Feroze Gandhi, who was the first MP, from here? Feroze Gandhi's grave is 100 km away from here. Did Rahul Gandhi ever go there to offer flowers? In our culture, the relationship between grandfather and grandson is very sacred. If they do not believe in it, then they only consider the relationship as electoral." 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. KL 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. Voting in Amethi and Rae Bareli will be held in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on May 20. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. (ANI)
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