Hitting back at Priyanka Gandhi for claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not speak on pressing issues concerning the country, Union Minister Smriti Irani challenged the Gandhis to a debate and to specify any television channel, anchor, place, time and the issue to speak on, of their choice.
"I challenge them (Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi) to pick any channel, anchor, place, time and issue to debate with the BJP. Dono bhai-behen ek taraf aur BJP ka ek pravakta ek taraf, doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani ho jaayega (On one side, there will be the brother-sister duo and on the other side, there will be a spokesperson of the BJP; everything will be clear)...From our party, Sudhanshu Trivedi is enough. They will get an answer," Ms Irani, who is contesting from Uttar Pradesh's Amethi said speaking to ANI on Wednesday.
In Amethi, Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi by 55,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections ending the Gandhi family's stint on the seat.
Amethi and Rae Bareli -- two constituencies considered old turfs of the Gandhi family has again become the point of focus as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has entered the fray in Rae Bareli and the family's close aide Kishori Lal Sharma has been fielded against Smriti Irani in Amethi.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has always been active in the above constituencies through back-room to front campaign, is camping in Rai Bareli from Monday and leading the poll front from strategy, management and campaign.
Sonia Gandhi contested the 2019 general elections from Rae Bareli and defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's Dinesh Pratap Singh by a margin of over 1.6 lakh votes, however, her victory margin came down by 13 per cent as compared to 2014.
Congress had won just 2 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014 (Rae Bareli and Amethi). The tally came down to just one in 2019 after the party lost Amethi.
This time, Rahul Gandhi will be seeking to maintain the long-standing family legacy seat in the state, while Kishori Lal Sharma is up against the challenge of Smriti Irani.
Sonia Gandhi won Rae Bareli for four successive terms before she moved to Rajya Sabha this time.
The party, while aiming to register a strong comeback after two historic losses in 2014 and 2019 has a tough task in hand to wrest back Amethi and retain Rae Bareli. But, it is pertinent to note that in 2022 Assembly elections in the state, Congress couldn't win any assembly seat under Rae Bareli, which shows the task, which means the task in hand, will be anything but easy.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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