After legal notice, Irani dares Rahul to send her behind bars
21 Sept 2015 6:31 AM IST
Union Minister Smriti Irani on Sunday dared Rahul Gandhi to send her to jail, a day after the Congress served a legal notice on her over her land grab allegations against the Rajiv Gandhi <g data-gr-id="71">Trust,</g> and vowed to speak for the people of Amethi.
Irani, who lost to Rahul in his home turf in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, said "some persons get disturbed" by her visits here and asserted that she would not be cowed down by any legal notices.
"Some persons get disturbed with my Amethi visits," said the HRD Minister, in an apparent reference
to the Congress Vice President.
"If Congress or Rahul Gandhi consider the women of this country '<g data-gr-id="61">abla</g>' (weak), they should forget it.
I am not the one to get afraid with this and will continue to raise Amethi's voice.
"If Rahul or Congress have the courage then let them put me behind the bars. I will not remain silent. My relationship with Amethi is not that of elections," the BJP leader said addressing a gathering after distributing saplings at Shivdulari Mahila Mahavidyalaya at Gungvaj village.
The Uttar Pradesh unit of Congress served the legal notice to her in Delhi for alleging that the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust had grabbed <g data-gr-id="72">land</g> of farmers in Amethi, terming it as "false and malicious".
Asking the Union Minister to cease and desist from making any such imputations against the party, Congress said it will have "no option" but to pursue appropriate legal remedies, both civil and criminal, if she failed to do so.
"Yesterday, an advocate came to my Delhi residence when I was busy in a meeting. He has given a notice that he will take legal action against me if I make any comment against Rahul Gandhi or the Nehru-Gandhi family in Amethi," Irani said.
A few banners were put up at the programme site against Rahul, the Amethi MP, but they were removed soon.
Meanwhile, soon after Irani concluded her speech, around 150 Siksha Mitras(contractual teachers) sitting in the gathering started raising slogans.
The minister assured from the dais that she had requested the state government to provide details related to Siksha Mitras to the Centre.
Congress says it will take fight on land bill to states
Charging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "no time" to meet farmers and hear their woes, Congress on Sunday said it would take the fight on the "anti-farmer" land bill to the states.
Addressing a Kisan Samman rally at Ramlila Ground here, party President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi vowed to fight tooth and nail any attempt to bring back the land ordinance in any form and countered the Prime Minister's charge that Congress was blocking development. Accusing the Prime Minister of going back on his promises made during Lok Sabha polls and "talking hollow" after coming to power, she charged the Prime Minister has "no time" to meet farmers and address their woes as he has time and interest only for his "few industrialist friends". "Yes, he has also the interest, time and money for foreign trips," the Congress President said taking a jibe at Modi's foreign visits.
Holding that a party, which fought to get India freedom from the Britishers and participated in the growth story of the nation for 60 years cannot be anti-development, Sonia said that whenever the government does not listen to the problems of the farmers and the poor, Congress will stand in its way. "The Congress will act as an obstacle in their way whenever they stop giving an ear to peoples' problems, whenever farmers are not given Minimum Support Price, whenever drought and flood affected farmers are left at the mercy of God and the price of edible items is not brought down. "If development means benefiting few persons, we will definitely act as a roadblock in such development," she said alleging Modi is trying to paint Congress as anti-development in order to "hide failures" of NDA government. Hailing the <g data-gr-id="77">farmers</g> she said the farmers are undergoing one after another crisis ever since Modi government came to power.
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