Rahul Gandhi files nomination, clarifies remarks on Narendra Modi

Amethi, April 12: Facing heat from the BJP,

today rejected criticism that he made any personal attack on Narendra Modi, saying he only mentioned that the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate had earlier never referred to his wife in poll affidavits. "I did not get personal. I just stated that on his affidavits he had previously not mentioned something. So it's not a personal thing," he told reporters here soon after filing his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha polls.

Rahul was accompanied by his mother, sister and brother-in-law during nomination

He was responding to a question on his raking up the marital status of Modi while addressing a rally in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. BJP came out all guns blazing with Arun Jaitley asking how Rahul can be disturbed by a disclosure of a "legitimate" relationship when "many" of his partymen have "illicit" relationships.

RFlanked by his mother Sonia Gandhi, sister Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra, Rahul, who is seeking re-election for a third consecutive term from Amethi constituency, filed his nomination papers and expressed confidence of registering a "good victory".

"We will have a good victory," 43-year-old Rahul, who is pitted against Smrita Irani of BJP and Kumar Vishwas of Aam Aadmi party from this Nehru-Gandhi family pocketborough, told reporters. Perched atop an SUV, Rahul got a rousing reception. The Gandhi siblings waved enthusiastically as their convoy made its way through the huge crowd that had lined the entire three km stretch to the district collectorate in Gauriganj where he filed his nomination.

In scenes similar to the one witnessed when Sonia filed her nomination in neighbouring Rae Bareli, rose petals were showered on them as they moved in a convoy. Gandhi has held the Amethi seat since 2004. Trashing projections of opinion polls that his party will lose elections, Rahul recalled that Congress had been written off by the such polls in 2004 as well as 2009 but those did not prove to be correct.

"They (opinion polls) kept saying Congress will lose but you know what happened," he said, referring to his party's unexpected victories in last two Lok Sabha elections.

PTI