Gurugram (Haryana) [India], May 5 : Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gourav Vallabh has criticized Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's decision to contest from Rae Bareli and said that it is a "fraud" with the voters of both Wayanad and his mother's erstwhile constituency.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gourav Vallabh has criticized Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's decision to contest from Rae Bareli and said that it is a "fraud" with the voters of both Wayanad and his mother's erstwhile constituency.
He said that Rahul Gandhi decided to contest from Rae Bareli because he received inputs that he will lose from Wayanad.
Notably, Gourav Vallabh was associated with Congress. He joined BJP after leaving Congress last month citing the party's "lack of direction".
Speaking to ANI, Gourav Vallabh said, "First you contested from one seat (Wayanad). You let voting take place there. You must have gathered some input from there. He (Rahul Gandhi) did not go for another seat before the voting in Wayanad took place. As soon as the voting took place and input came that the winning probability was low, you went for another seat."
"That too, you are contesting from your older seat, a seat where your mother had been contesting. Even there, they saw probability, they were told that Amethi will strongly dislike him," he added.
Further taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi, the BJP leader called it a "self-goal' on Congress' part
"It is like, there were two questions in examination, only one had to be answered. The examinee first wrote one question, then also started wiring the second, because he knows that the first question is wrong...Congress is doing a self-goal," Vallabh said.
"This is a fraud with the voters of Wayanad and Raebareli. If he had to contest from both seats, who stopped him from announcing his candidacy from both seats. But he thought the Wayanad voters will be upset. But they (Wayanad voters) still didn't vote for him," he added.
Vallabh said this shows Congress' lack of confidence and reaffirmed that BJP-led NDA will win 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
"All of this just shows the lack of confidence in Congress party and as party's president Mallikarjun Kharge had said in Parliament 'Abki baar 400 paar' (for BJP), all signs are of that happening."
Rahul Gandhi will be contesting elections from RaeBareli, the seat vacated recently by his mother and former Congress President Sonia Gandhi when she moved to Rajya Sabha.
He filed his nomination from RaeBareli earlier today, which was also the last date to file the nomination for the seat.
Rahul is pitted against Congress defector and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh. A sitting MP from Kerala's Wayanad, Rahul is also seeking a fresh term in the Lower House from the seat that polled in Phase 2 of the general elections on April 26.
In Amethi, the Congress will be represented by Kishori Lal Sharma, a longtime loyalist of the Gandhi family. Kishori Lal Sharma filed his nomination from the Amethi seat today. Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019 ending Gandhi family's stint from the seat.
The voting in both seats will be held in the fifth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on May 7. Polling for 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh is being held across all seven phases. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.