India
In this part of the exclusive interview of Smriti Irani with MyNation's editor-in-chief Abhijit Majumder, Union minister for textiles opines that Rahul Gandhi is yet to mature as a politician, no matter how much his cheerleaders sing paeans to him following the recent Assembly election results
New Delhi: In the first interview after the December Assembly elections defeat in three states, Union minister for textiles Smriti Irani told MyNation that Rahul Gandhi, whom she is likely to take on again in the Congress bastion Amethi in 2019, has still not “come of age” as the media claims.
“If it were only his capacity to do so, he would not have a litany of losses,” Irani said. “To say that all the losses are others’ and the victories are his is a great disservice to all those who tutor him and also work at grassroots.”
But Lutyens’ media has regularly sounded the false alarm that Rahul has come of age. “That’s how the relationship between Lutyens and Gandhi family has been. They have to protect their enterprise,” Smriti said.
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The minister said the pathetic condition of Amethi, till date a Gandhi family pocket borough, shows that a man who can’t even bring development to his own constituency will miserably fail nationally. “The very fact that people expect from me, given that I have worked in Amethi, speaks volumes about how there is no expectation from Rahul Gandhi,” she said.
Rahul Gandhi had berated the PM for Ayushman Bharat, she said. “But more than 1.75 lakh families there benefit from Ayushman Bharat. Saubhagya electricity scheme is being implemented. For the first time we have toilets and houses made for the poor.”
Also read— Smriti Irani interview: ‘No, controversies have not made me less combative’
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