Checkmate, insists Congress as BJP mocks its Amethi-Raebareli move
Hours after the Congress announced its candidates for the Raebareli and Amethi constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, party leader Jairam Ramesh defended the party's move and said the decision to pick Rahul Gandhi from Raebareli was carefully planned.
He also asserted the decision has devastated the BJP, and its supporters.
"Many people have many opinions on the news of Rahul Gandhi contesting elections from Raebareli. Remember, he is an experienced player of politics and chess. The party leadership takes its decisions after much discussion and as part of a larger strategy. This single decision has befuddled the BJP, its supporters, and its sycophants." he tweeted.
Also referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Ramesh said, "The BJP's self-proclaimed Chanakya, who used to talk about 'paramparagat seat' is now not sure how to respond."
On the Raebareli seat, a Gandhi family bastion, the party leader said, "Raebareli has been the seat not only of Sonia ji but also of Indira Gandhi herself. It is not an inheritance; it is a responsibility and a duty."
"As far as the Gandhi family is concerned, it is not just Amethi-Raebareli, the entire country from north to south is the stronghold of the Gandhi family. Rahul Gandhi has been MP thrice from Uttar Pradesh and once from Kerala. Why has the Prime Minister been unable to muster the courage to contest an election from a single seat below the Vindhyas?" Jairam Ramesh asked.
Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli and filed his nomination papers from the seat today. For the Amethi seat, the Congress picked Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family.
On Priyanka Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh said, "Priyanka ji is campaigning vigorously and is single-handedly silencing Narendra Modi’s lies. The way she responded to the canards that the PM was spreading on the abolition of estate duty in March 1985 was a stinging rebuke. That is why it was important that she should not be limited to just one constituency. She is campaigning across the country."
"Priyanka ji will reach the House by contesting any by-election," Ramesh asserted.
The Congress leader also took a dig at BJP's Amethi pick, Smriti Irani, and said, "Her only identity is that she contests elections from Amethi against Rahul Gandhi. Now, her political relevance is over."
In a video, shared on Chandigarh Congress Sevadal's official X handle, Rahul Gandhi was seen comparing the likes of politics to that of chess.
Recalling how he once beat those who taught him to play chess, Rahul Gandhi, in the video said the rules of playing chess and being in politics are the same.
"In chess, the idea is, make sure you're controlling the centre, you can apply pressure on the centre from the sides in different ways. But if you don't understand the centre, and you don't have a view on the centre, you cannot make that properly."
"In the same way, if you don't have a clear idea of what you're trying to do in politics, you don't understand the Centre, and it means you won't be able to operate," Rahul Gandhi on the similarities between politics and chess.
