Manoj Tiwari urges Amethi people to think why Rahul contesting from second seat

Amethi (UP), May 3: BJP MP and one of the party's star campaigners Manoj Tiwari appealed to people of Amethi on Friday to think as to why sitting MP Rahul Gandhi "had to look for a safe place" in the south for contesting election. "You must think why your three-time MP fled Amethi (seat) in search of some secure place in the south.

This means that Rahul Gandhi has lost trust of Amethi people," Tiwari said addressing a public meeting at Gauriganj here. This time, Gandhi is contesting from the Wayanad Lok sabha seat in Kerala, besides the Congress bastion of Amethi.

Tiwari, who is also president of the Delhi unit of the BJP, termed Gandhi's decision to contest from a second seat as "shameful for a three times MP from Amethi, who is also president of his party (Congress)". "If the people of Amethi miss this chance for great change, they may miss a lot in future," the BJP leader said.

Referring to the Batla House encounter of 2008, the BJP leader said he was "surprised how Congress leaders narrated that their then party president (Sonia Gandhi) burst into tears but never cared for martyr MC Sharma." A team of Delhi police had raided a Batla House flat in south Delhi following a tip-off that terrorists involved in the September 13, 2008 serial blasts in the national capital, were holed up there.

Two suspected terrorists and police inspector Sharma were killed in the encounter that took place six days after the serial blasts. He appealed to the people to vote for BJP nominee Smriti Irani for all-round and "real" development of Amethi. Rahul Gandhi had defeated Irani in 2014 by a margin of over one lakh votes retaining his Amethi seat, which goes to polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 6.

PTI