"Couldn't Care Less": Smriti Irani On Congress's Amethi Candidate

Union minister Smriti Irani, who unseated Congress's Rahul Gandhi from his family turf Amethi in 2019, scoffed at the Congress delay in naming its candidate from the constituency.

"I think the Congress has clearly its role cut out for itself in Amethi. The leadership is aware that this is a losing seat for them because if they were so confident of their victory, they would have announced their candidate by now," she told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Asked whom she would prefer between Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ms Irani said, "Couldn't care less. Whoever comes will be defeated surely, because both these entities have been absentee politicians from the area. One has been an MP, missing for 15 years. I have worked for five years, two years of which were corona," she said.

Talking about the tough time the constituency had passed through during the pandemic, she said, "When you talk about corona, people wonder why they (the Gandhis) were not around to help anyone in Amethi and Raebareli for that matter".
 
The people, she added, "realise if it was not for Prime Minister's benevolence in ensuring every citizen gets free ration, many people would have faced much difficulty".

"They also understand that if not Prime Minister Modi, nobody would have ensured that three vaccines were made available to anyone," she added.