Mumbai: Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday took a jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying that the Wayanad MP should contest from 4-5 seats to ensure his victory from at least one seat.
He further challenged Rahul Gandhi to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the Lok Sabha elections if he is "courageous enough".
According to the sources, Rahul Gandhi may contest the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi from Raebareli.
"I welcome Rahul Gandhi with an open heart if he wants to contest from the Mumbai North seat. If he wants to contest he can contest from Amethi and if he is courageous enough, he should contest from Varanasi," Goyal said while addressing a press conference here.
Goyal, a BJP candidate in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, from the North Mumbai parliamentary constituency, also took a jibe at the Congress former president, asking him to contest the general polls from 4-5 seats to ensure his victory from at least one seat.
"He should contest from 4-5 seats as he is losing in Wayanad and Smriti Irani will defeat him badly in Amethi. If he wants to go to Ayodhya, he should, it's a different thing that they have denied the existence of Shri Ram and have planned to destroy Ramsetu," Goyal added.
Uttar Pradesh congress-in-charge" Congress in-charge Avinash Pande on Friday exuded confidence that the INDIA alliance will win the Lok Sabha elections adding that the elections for Smriti Irani are going to be tough.
Speaking to ANI, Avinash Pande said that this election will be fought very strongly by the INDIA bloc. "This election will be fought very strongly from there by the INDIA alliance and it is not as easy as BJP pretends it to be, this itself shows, from inside, they have accepted the defeat...Smriti Irani's statements shouldn't be given importance anywhere...reacting to it will be like stooping to a very low level of politics. For Smriti Irani also this election is going to be tough and the INDIA alliance will win," Uttar Pradesh congress-in-charge" Congress in-charge said when asked about Amethi and Raebareli seats.
Rahul Gandhi lost to BJP's Smriti Irani in Amethi in the 2019 elections, a constituency he had been representing for 15 years.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi is vying for a second term in Parliament from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, having secured a significant victory there during the 2014 elections.
PM Modi had recently claimed that Rahul Gandhi would run away from Kerala like he did in Amethi.
"Congress's shehzada is facing trouble in Wayanad. Shehzada and his gang are awaiting voting in Wayanad and after that they will announce a safe seat for him. The Kerala CM has slammed him in a language which even I do not use. The manner in which he has run away from Amethi, he will quit Wayanad as well," said PM Modi.
He was addressing an election rally in Maharashtra's Nanded Lok Sabha seat for BJP candidate Prataprao Patil-Chikhlikar and Shinde Sena's Baburao Kohlikar in Hingoli.
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