Bow & arrow in hand, Smriti Irani now pursues Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad

Smriti Irani attended roadshow to extend her support to K Surendran, the Kerala BJP chief and candidate from Wayanad.

With a bow and arrow in hand, Union Minister Smriti Irani on April 4 reached Wayanad a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited the constituency.

She was accompanying BJP candidate K Surendran at a roadshow on April 4. She attended the event to back Surendran who will file his nomination for the Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad soon.

Ahead of filing his nomination in Wayanad, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also held a roadshow at Kalpetta on April 3.

Catch LIVE updates of 2024 Lok Sabha polls here. 

Surendran’s candidature from Wayanad was declared last week. However, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and LDF candidate Annie Raja’s names were announced much earlier.

#WATCH | Kerala BJP chief and candidate from Wayanad, K Surendran holds a roadshow in Wayanad along with Union Minister Smriti Irani before filing his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. pic.twitter.com/KsagdreNtF

Related stories

• 
  OPINION | The social contract from Brooklyn to Bihar represents a tussle between imagination and fis...
• 
  OPINION | Nitish Kumar didn’t just demolish the opposition, he’s also changed intra-NDA dynamics
• 
  OPINION | ‘Sushasan Babu’ has the last laugh as Bihar’s women voters show who calls the shots

— ANI (@ANI) April 4, 2024

Gandhi had won Wayanad in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by a margin of over 4 lakh votes. However, he lost to Irani in the Congress pocket borough Amethi in 2019.  She defeated Rahul Gandhi by 55,000 votes, but Gandhi still reached Parliament in 2019 from the seat of Wayanad. She has repeatedly attacked Gandhi for being an “outsider” in Amethi. She always mentioned that Amethi is her “home. In 2021, she bought land there.   Gandhi was accused of not being a frequent visitor. He would also stay at the Mushiganj guest house.

On the day Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Uttar Pradesh, Irani performed “griha pravesh” at her home in Amethi. Irani has now  built pressure on Rahul Gandhi on Wayanad.

She has regularly questioned Rahul about Wayanad.  “If he remains in Wayanad, it too shall suffer the same fate as Amethi, it too shall suffer the same fate as Amethi. So, you (people) must ensure he does not remain here," Irani said as quoted by India Today.

On April 4, she accused the Congress of hiding Muslim League flags during Gandhi’s nomination rally. “It indicates that either Rahul Gandhi is ashamed of getting support from the Muslim League or when he visits North India and visits temples, he will not be able to hide his association with the Muslim League. I am shocked after coming here to Wayanad that even after the ban of a terror outfit like PFI, Rahul Gandhi is taking support from PFI's political leadership,” she said at the rally in Wayanad.

She said there is “a hugging in Delhi and begging in Kerala” which needs to be explained. “Why do the alliance leaders meet in Delhi and there seems to be no animosity, but when it comes to the seat of Wayanad, there is competition. Rahul Gandhi creates animosity against Sanatan Dharma when he does politics in South India, why then does he go to every temple of repute in the North India when he wants to fight an election,” she said.

Irani also highlighted the Congress failures in Amethi.  "In Amethi, 4 lakh families got toilets for the first time when (Narendra) Modi became Prime Minister. Congress ruled there for 50 years, and 12 people got their homes only after Modi became the Prime Minister. Now, I have heard that they are calling the people of Wayanad their family. They (Congress) cheated the people of Amethi in the name of family, and now they are aiming to do the same in Wayanad,” said Irani.

Voting in Kerala for the Lok Sabha polls this year will be on April 26, with the counting of votes on June 4.