Samajwadi Party rakes Sonia's foreign origin issue

Lucknow, May 11 (UNI) After biting dust in the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha bypoll, Samajwadi Party today raked up the foreign origin issue of Congress president Sonia Gandhi -- who romped home victorious by a landslide margin of 4,17,888 votes from the constituency.

''Ms Gandhi still remains a foreigner and owns huge movable and immovable properties in Italy,'' SP Uttar Pradesh unit president Ram Sharan Das said addressing a news conference here.

He observed by resigning the Rae Bareli parliamentary seat and seeking a re-election, Ms Gandhi had not performed any feat.

''On the contrary, crores of rupees were wasted in this forced bypoll,'' Mr Das alleged.

Further, he attributed Ms Gandhi's landslide victory to the ''terror of central government'' in Rae Bareli.

Charging Congress with large scale rigging of the bypoll, the SP leader claimed the defeat of party nominee Raj Kumar Choudhury was engineered. ''Congress capitalised upon its government at the centre and did what the party liked.'' In the May eight Rae Bareli bypoll -- results of which were declared today, Ms Gandhi polled 4,74,891 votes. Her nearest rival Raj Kumar Choudhury of SP mustered only 57,003 votes.

He claimed Congress never made any effort for the development of Rae Bareli. ''For this reason, former prime minister late Indira Gandhi had once lost the election from the constituency,'' he added.

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