Belagavi (Karnataka), May 03: With Rahul Gandhi filing his nomination from Raebareli on the last day of filing papers, Union Home Minister Amit Shah took a dig at the Congress leader, saying that Sonia Gandhi has tried to launch “Rahulyaan” nearly 20 times and he will lose election from the Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Rahul Gandhi is also contesting Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad in Kerala.
Amit Shah said BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh will win with a huge margin from Raebareli.
“We launched Chandrayaan-3 and it was successful. On the other hand, Sonia Gandhiji has tried to launch Rahulyaan nearly 20 times and has failed every time. Now he has run from Amethi and is contesting from Raebareli. I want to tell you (Rahul Gandhi) the result from here, ‘Rahul Baba’ will lose to the BJP candidate, Dinesh Pratap Singh with a huge margin in Raebareli,” Amit Shah said at an election rally in Belgavi’s Hukkeri town.
Shah further said that Rahul Gandhi goes on frequent vacations and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not taken a single leave for the last 23 years.
“On one side, there’s the Congress party that has done scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore. On the other, we have PM Modi, who has served the nation as a CM and a PM for the last 23 years, without a single allegation to his name. On one hand, we have Rahul baba, who takes a foreign vacation every three months. On the other hand, we have PM Modi, who has not taken one leave since the last 23 years and celebrates festivals with our brave soldiers,” he said.
Later, Amit Shah reached Mahalaxmi Temple in Kolhapur and offered prayers.
Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli Lok Sabha constituency on Friday, the last day of filing nominations for the seat.
Rahul was accompanied by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and her husband and businessman Robert Vadra.
Rahul is pitted against Congress defector and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh in Raebareli. A sitting MP from Kerala’s Wayanad, Rahul is also seeking a fresh term in the lower House of Parliament from the seat that went to the polls in the second phase of general elections on April 26.
Earlier, Union Minister Smriti Irani said that Congress had conceded defeat from the constituency even before a vote was cast, adding that the opposition party would not have fielded a “proxy candidate” (Kishori Lal Sharma) if they were hopeful about the outcome of the polls.
Irani recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks about “Congress waiting for elections to conclude in Kerala so that a safe seat could be announced for Rahul Gandhi later.” PM Modi had already warned the public that Rahul Gandhi will look for a new seat once voting concludes in Wayanad. Congress leadership is going away from the battlefield,” she said.
Amethi and Rae Bareli will vote in the fifth phase on May 20. Rahul represented Amethi in the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2019. His father and former Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi also represented Amethi in the Lower House of Parliament for 10 years from 1981.