Union minister Smriti Irani speakin in Amethi on Tuesday
Union minister Smriti Irani has promised to pay from her own pocket for the insurance of 25,000 women in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.
"I would like to tell my sisters in Amethi that before Diwali, I will pay the first year's installment of the Suraksha Bima Yojana for 25,000 of them," Ms Irani announced at a function in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, organised to celebrate one year in office of the BJP-led government at the Centre, in which she is education minister.
Ms Irani came bearing more gifts and launched another blistering attack on Mr Gandhi, who she had challenged in the Congress pocketborough of Amethi in last year's national election.
"For 10 years farmers of Amethi demanded a railway rack of fertiliser. I made that promise 10 days ago and the first rack arrived at Gauriganj yesterday," Ms Irani said, adding, "the promises they haven't fulfilled in 10 years, we have fulfilled in 10 days."
Describing herself as the daughter of the family that is Amethi, Ms Irani also announced other central schemes and rued, "The love that Amethi's people have given to politicians has never been returned."
With an aggressive Rahul Gandhi attacking the Prime Minister and the BJP government ever since he returned from a two month sabbatical abroad, the BJP has redeployed Ms Irani to take on the Congress leader on his turf.
She was in Amethi earlier this month too, just before Mr Gandhi visited after a gap of five months, and accused him of neglecting his constituency.
Though Ms Irani - a TV-actress-turned-politician parachuted to contest against Mr Gandhi - was defeated in national election, she had managed to reduce the Congress leader's winning margin.
Amethi and Rae Bareli, the constituency of Congress president and Rahul's mother Sonia Gandhi, were the only two seats that the Congress won in the national election in Uttar Pradesh, which the BJP swept winning 71 of 80 seats.