Vice President of India’s ruling Congress party Rahul Gandhi, second right, holds a handful of flower petals to throw back at supporters, with his sister Priyanka Vadra seated by his side as he arrives to file his nomination for the ongoing general elections in Amethi, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Saturday, April 12. Gandhi, heir to the country’s Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, is leading the struggling party’s campaign in the general election. The multiphase voting across the country runs until May 12, with results for the 543-seat lower house of parliament announced May 16. (AP Photo)
Rahul Gandhi files nomination from Amethi, says opinion polls will be proved wrong
Amethi, April 12 (PTI): Rahul Gandhi on Saturday rejected criticism that he made a personal attack against Narendra Modi by referring to his marital status, saying he just stated that he had previously not mentioned about his wife in poll affidavits.
“I did not get personal. I just stated that on his affidavits he had previously not mentioned something. So it’s not a personal thing,” he told reporters in Amethi soon after filing his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha polls.
He was responding to a question on his raking up the marital status of Modi while addressing a rally in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.
Flanked by his mother Ms. Sonia Gandhi and sister Ms. Priyanka, the Congress vice-president also rubbished the projection of opinion polls that his party will lose elections.
He said Congress had been written off by the opinion polls in 2004 as well as 2009 but those did not prove to be correct.
“They (opinion polls) kept saying Congress will lose but you know what happened,” he said, referring to his party’s unexpected victories in last two Lok Sabha elections.
Asked about polarising statements made by leaders of various political parties, he said attempts to polarise elections take place every time and Congress will take everybody along.
Ms. Priyanka also said that Mr. Rahul had not made any personal attack on Mr. Modi.
“I don’t think he made a personal attack. He made a point that something was missing from the affidavit before. Besides, I don’t think they (BJP) are in a position to talk about personal attacks,” she said.
Rahul expressed confidence about victory from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, the Nehru-Gandhi family pocketborough where BJP has fielded Smriti Irani and AAP has Kumar Vishwas.
He said he has family relations with Amethi and “We will have a good victory.” Mr. Rahul said he had focussed on three things for development of Amethi -- working with women bodies, connecting the area with national highways and railways and developing food park.
He will focus on these issues in the future also to generate more employment for youths, he said. Mr. Rahul along with Sonia Gandhi, Ms. Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra, reached Amethi after conducting a roadshow through adjoining Sultanpur where his cousin Varun Gandhi is contesting on a BJP ticket.
The roadshow was conducted on a 42-km stretch between Amhart in Sultanpur and Gauriganj in Amethi. Amethi is going to polls on May 7 and Mr. Rahul is contesting for the third consecutive time to retain the seat. The event evoked curosity as this is for the first time Mr. Rahul is organising such a political campaign from Sultanpur constituency where Mr. Varun Gandhi is fighting against a Congress candidate.
