Priyanka Gandhi raises IIIT issue, Smriti Irani hits back

On Wednesday, Priyanka slammed Irani, saying why wasn’t she getting an IIIT for Amethi to address the problem of unemployment. “Why isn’t she (Irani) getting an IIIT for Amethi, wahan samasya hain naujawanon ki, why doesn’t she look at it… It is her department, she is the education minister,” Priyanka told mediapersons at Rae Bareli’s Sareni block.

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Irani, who was at Kharagpur in West Bengal, countered: “Mrs Vadra has not done her homework. There is an off campus of IIIT Allahabad in Amethi. What is astounding is that while the Gandhi family has ruled the bastion for 60 years, they have done absolutely nothing… And now, a winning candidate (Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi) is asking a losing candidate to develop his constituency — which his family has been reigning over for over 60 years.”

“I have said this before, that at least due to my presence, Amethi will see more of the Gandhi family. And that statement of mine is turning out to be true,” she added.

Irani wondered whether Congress believes that “Mr (Rahul) Gandhi is not capable enough to defend his own turf that he needs additional ammunition”. She added that despite losing to Rahul in Amethi in the Lok Sabha polls last year, she paid from her pocket the first year premium of 25,000 residents of Amethi for the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Beema Yojna. “Have you ever heard of any Gandhi doing that in Amethi before?” she asked.

Meanwhile, Priyanka — who is on a two-day visit to Rae Bareli — spoke to locals in Sareni and Unchahar, before holding a closed-door meeting with party workers at Bhuemau.

“These villages have many problems and I intentionally went to places where not much work has been done, so that I can address their problems,” Priyanka said at Sareni, soon after arriving at Rae Bareli from Lucknow.

— With PTI inputs