BJP challenges Rahul to remove poverty in Amethi, Rae Bareli

Varanasi, Apr 13 (UNI) The BJP today challenged Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to ''first eliminate poverty'' from the two parliamentary segments of Amethi and Rae Bareli before talking about removing penury from the entire Uttar Pradesh.

''Before even talking about uprooting poverty from UP, Mr Gandhi should make efforts to eliminate penury from Amethi and Rae Bareli represented in the Lok Sabha by him and his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi respectively,'' BJP national vice president and Lok Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh Karuna Shukla told newspersons here.

Slamming the Amethi MP for making ''irresponsible statements'' on the 1992 Ayodhya demolition, Ms Shukla said, ''it proves Mr Gandhi has hardly any respect for Lord Ram. Becoming emotional on the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya is highly objectionable.'' Ms Shuykla, who is also the niece of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, said, ''such statements were not unexpected as Rahul is the son of a woman who was born on Italian soil...'' The Congress leader had last month during a roadshow in West UP claimed that ''had the Gandhi family been in active politics, the mosque at Ayodhya would not have been demolished in 1992.'' Ms Shukla, who is the former national president of BJP Mahila Morcha, also blamed the Congress-led UPA regime at the centre for delaying the passage of the Women Reservation Bill in Parliament.

''BJP women MPs led by former union minister Sushma Swaraj have already met representatives of the government and vowed full support to the bill on the floor of Parliament. But the Congress is not at all committed to the cause of women reservation despite even the left parties' support to the crucial and long pending bill.'' Ms Shukla later addressed a series of meetings in support of BJP candidate from Varanasi (South) constituency.

UNI