Chandigarh: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday took on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for shifting his Lok Sabha seat to Rae Bareli saying that the latter did so as he could not muster courage to contest from Amethi.
It may be recalled that Rahul Gandhi was defeated by BJP leader Smritti Irani in 2019 following which he had shifted to Wayanad constituency in Kerala. Taking a swipe at Congress leader, the Union defence who addressed a rally at the old ITI ground in Rohtak, further quipped that he wondered by which name would people now call Rahul Gandhi for running away from the battlefield.
He went on to say that while some Congress leaders wanted Rahul Gandhi to lead the country, here was someone who was running away from the battlefield. Referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s advice that there was no need to have Congress after achieving the Freedom, Rajnath Singh held that it appeared that the electorate of the country would now fulfil the wish of Mahatma Gandhi.
Stating that the country could now target its enemies inside and outside its borders under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh said that while no one took India seriously in the past, it had now emerged as a strong country which was being noticed and its voice given a serious heed globally, even as its economy has also become fifth biggest in the world.
Rajnath Singh’s rally also marked the beginning of arrival of BJP’s star campaigners in the state. Earlier, the party candidate and four-time MP Arvind Sharma also filed his nomination papers for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
He faces three-time MP Deepender Hooda, son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Riding on the Modi wave, Sharma had defeated Deepender in 2019 by a narrow margin of about 7,000 votes. The polling would be held for all the 10 seats in Haryana on May 25.
