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Tag: smriti irani

  • Smriti Irani To Enter Delhi Politics? Ex-Amethi MP’s Activities In Capital Create Buzz |

    New Delhi: The growing involvement of former Amethi MP Smriti Irani in BJP activities in Delhi has created a buzz within the party’s city unit over her possible “role” in local politics ahead of next year’s assembly elections. Born and raised in Delhi, the former Union minister has been actively involved in programmes related to the party’s membership drive in the city that was launched on September 2.

    She has been assigned “supervision” of the membership drive in seven out of the Delhi BJP’s 14 district units, party leaders said. Party insiders also claimed Irani had purchased a house in south Delhi, hinting at her further involvement in the city unit’s activities.

    “These developments come amid a section of party leaders pushing for the projection of a face who would lead the charge in the Delhi Assembly polls to give a tough fight to AAP led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,” said a senior BJP leader.

    In the 2020 assembly polls, the BJP contested without a face or declaring any leader as its chief ministerial candidate. It managed to win eight out the 70 seats while AAP won the remainder, he noted.

    Another top Delhi BJP leader said if the idea of going to the polls with a chief ministerial candidate gained currency in the coming weeks, the question over a suitable leader for the responsibility would naturally come up.

    “In such a scenario, Irani, along with other leaders such as MPs Manoj Tiwari and Bansuri Swaraj, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, and former West Delhi MP Parvesh Verma, could be potential contenders for the role,” he said.

    The entire party rallying behind one leader will send a message of “unity” and also streamline campaigning, he claimed.

    The BJP had contested the 2015 assembly polls with Kiran Bedi as its chief ministerial candidate but failed miserably, said some leaders who believe it was not a good idea to have a face for the elections.

    The debate is still open. The national leadership is aware of the matter and may take a call on it later on, they said.

    The party leaders maintained that the debate on a chief ministerial face could intensify in the coming days if AAP chief Kejriwal — currently under judicial custody in Tihar jail in the excise policy case — got bail.

    The Supreme Court is due to pronounce its order on Kejriwal’s bail plea on Friday.

    If Kejriwal comes out and becomes involved in political activities, the BJP’s task becomes even tougher, they added.

    Irani, who participated in a membership programme in Chandni Chowk along with local MP Praveen Khandelwal, emphasised on strengthening the BJP at the ground level, calling booth-level workers the source of power behind the party’s success and growth.

    Earlier, she made a three-day organisational visit to the Delhi BJP under the membership campaign, attending programmes and addressing party workers and supporters in Naveen Shahdara, Karol Bagh and New Delhi, the leaders added.

  • 3 Key Ministers From Modi 2.0 Left Out Of BJP-Led NDA Cabinet |

    PM Modi Swearing-In Ceremony: As BJP leader Narendra Modi took the oath as Prime Minister for the third time on Sunday, many new names are going to uphold cabinet berths in Modi 3.0. However, there are some popular faces that are kept off the Union Ministers list. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur, and Narayan Rane will not be part of the cabinet in the 18th Lok Sabha. 

    Irani contested the Lok Sabha election from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi, but she faced defeat by over 1.6 lakh votes to Congress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma. Earlier, she had served as the Women and Child Development Minister during the Modi government’s second term. Five years prior, she had won against Congress’s Rahul Gandhi. 

    On the other hand, Thakur secured a victory in the general election from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, having previously managed sports, information, and broadcasting portfolios. According to sources, he will not be included in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest Union Cabinet. 

    Rane served as the Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises during Modi’s second term. He won the Lok Sabha election, representing Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg in Maharashtra. 

    The Modi 3.0 cabinet includes several prominent BJP leaders such as Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, S. Jaishankar, Nitin Gadkari, Mansukh Mandaviya, Piyush Goyal, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupendra Yadav, Prahlad Joshi, Kiren Rijiju, C.R. Paatil, L. Murugan, Hardeep Puri, M.L. Khattar, Shivraj Chouhan, Gajendra Shekhawat, Suresh Gopi, and Jitin Prasada. 

  • `Fodder Thief…`: BJP`s Smriti Irani Hits Back At Lalu Yadav`s `Parivaarvad` Remarks On PM Modi

    Smriti Irani challenged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to compare the ten years of UPA rule with the performance of the Modi government.

  • ‘Glad That Congress Has Accepted ‘Amethi’ Challenge’ For Rahul Gandhi: Smriti Irani |

    AMETHI: Union Minister and senior BJP leader Smriti Irani on Tuesday said that she was glad to hear that the Congress party has accepted her challenge to field Rahul Gandhi from Amethi – her Lok Sabha constituency where she had defeted the former Congress president in 2019 polls. Irani had challenged the former Congress chief to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Amethi without taking help from the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party and without going to Wayanad – his current Lok Sabha constituency.

    Hitting back at senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, Irani told reporters, “I am happy that Jairam Ramesh has accepted my challenge that Rahul Gandhi is ready to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls without the help from Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati. I wish that the CWC (Congress Working Committee) would immediately accept Ramesh’s proposal.”

    Calling herself an ordinary BJP worker, Irani said that she awaits a formal announcement from the Congress party in this regard. 

    “I once again say, since Jairam Ramesh has said that Rahul Gandhi is ready to accept our challenge, our party workers from Amethi are eagerly waiting… Rahul Gandhi through the CWC should make an announcement (about him contesting the polls from Amethi and not Wayanad),” added Irani, who had defeated Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

     

    #WATCH | Amethi: On the statement of Congress General Secretary (Communication) Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister and Lok Sabha MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani says, “I am happy that Jairam Ramesh has accepted my challenge that Rahul Gandhi without Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati is ready… pic.twitter.com/kozHZdaCy7
    — ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

     

    Irani, who is in Amethi these days, attacked the Congress party and said that the empty streets that greeted Rahul Gandhi on Monday are a reflection of the people of Amethi’s anger towards the Gandhi family.

    Anger In Amethi Against Gandhi Family: Irani

    The BJP MP from Amethi spoke to the media on Monday and said, “The anger of the people of Amethi against the Gandhi family is visible. Today, when Rahul Gandhi) arrived, he was welcomed by empty streets. The anger of those who were deprived of development in Amethi has transformed into empty streets for the visit of the Gandhi family.”

    Speaking to the media Irani said, “In 2014, Amethi was promised a ‘Badlaav ki Raajneeti’ (politics of change) under our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hence, Amethi received an investment of Rs 6,523 crore in the Investors Summit held in the national capital.”

    “This was not a memorandum of understanding, ‘ye dharatal par implement hua nivesh hai.’ From the period of independence till 2014, when Prime Minister Modi became PM, the small-scale industry in Amethi only received Rs 500 crore in over 60 years,” she said.

    “However, in the 10 years of PM Modi’s tenure, Rs 2107 crore was given to the same small-scale industry sector in Amethi so that over one lakh beneficiaries could start their small-scale industries,” said Irani.

    Dare Rahul To Contest From Amethi Alone: Irani

    Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Irani said, “Perhaps this is also the reason why the people of Amethi remained unavailable to welcome the people who did not serve Amethi well.”

    “The people of Amethi also haven’t forgotten that this particular person who had mentioned Amethi and said that ‘yaha ke logo ki samjh theek nahi hai’. This is the reason why the people of this constituency are angry,” she said.

    “The Ram Bhakts of Amethi are also angered with the fact that the former MP of Amethi and the Gandhi family rejected the invitation for Ram Lalla’s life Pran Prathistha ceremony,” she stated. “The anger of those who were deprived of development in Amethi has today transformed into empty streets for the visit of the Gandhi family,” said Irani.

    Rahul Gandhi arrived in Amethi, the parliamentary seat he represented earlier on Monday, the same day, Smriti Irani began her four-day visit to the Uttar Pradesh town.

    Amethi used to be a Congress stronghold in Uttar Pradesh, where Rahul Gandhi lost to Smriti Irani by a margin of around 55,000 votes in the 2019 elections.

    The Congress is still undecided on whether Rahul Gandhi will attempt to regain the Congress stronghold, especially since Sonia Gandhi has also left Rae Bareili for the Rajya Sabha.

    Rahul Gandhi had won Lok Sabha elections from erstwhile Nehru-Gandhi family bastion Amethi three times until the 2019 general elections when he faced defeat from Smriti Irani. Rahul Gandhi, however, won from Wayanad in Kerala, the second seat he contested in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

    Rahul Gandhi reached Amethi on Monday as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the campaign kicked off by him on January 14 from Thoubal in Manipur in the run-up to the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

    Although it is improbable that the two leaders come face-to-face with each other, the coincidence proceeds ahead of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Amethi and beyond. 

  • Smriti Irani Vs Rahul Gandhi Face-Off In Amethi Today But Will RaGa Contest From UP Seat Again? |

    Ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Rahul Gandhi is on the last leg of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Rahul Gandhi will be in Amethi today and the current MP from the seat Smriti Irani will also reach her constituency on a four-day tour today. Irani had defeated Gandhi from the seat in the 2019 parliamentary elections. While Rahul Gandhi lost from Amethi, he won the Wayanad seat thus retaining his Lok Sabha membership. Now, with the two leaders again touring the hot seat, the question is – whether Rahul Gandhi will again challenge Smriti Irani from the seat.

    Rahul To Contest From Amethi?

    For quite some time, there have been rumours within the Congress that Rahul Gandhi might contest elections from Amethi once again. Not contesting from here may send a wrong message in the Hindi-speaking region. Reacting to the question, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “CEC will decide on who will contest from Amethi. Rahul Gandhi has been an MP from Amethi thrice. His father Rajiv Gandhi also used to contest from Amethi. It is a very important constituency for the Congress party.”

    With Sonia Gandhi moving to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, the Congress party has shunned its lone Lok Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh. Now, it will be important to see who will be Congress candidates from the Amethi and Raebareli.  

    Smriti’s Challenge From Kerala

    A few days ago, Smriti Irani had said during her visit to Kerala that she sent the current Wayanad MP to the seat from Uttar Pradesh. She urged the voters to ensure that he did not get another opportunity for the seat again. On the other hand, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi are scheduled to hold a rally at 4 PM in Babuganj, Amethi. 

    Amethi Remains A Hot Seat

    While Rahul may stay in Amethi for around 12 hours, Irani will stay put in the constituency for four days. This is perhaps the second time when both will be present in Amethi at the same time. However, the possibility of a face-to-face encounter between Rahul and Smriti is low as their schedules are different.

    Smriti usually visits Amethi frequently. This time, she is planning to stay for four days. Smriti will listen to people’s issues through a Jan Samvad program. She will be present at her homecoming program on February 22. Smriti Irani is likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi again. She has been consistently criticizing Rahul Gandhi. 

  • ‘India will become the third largest economy by 2027’, Smriti Irani’s statement

    Smriti Irani: Union Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday said that India is poised to become the world’s third largest economy by 2027 and credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development model for this. The Union Women and Child Development Minister said that the development blueprint set by the Prime Minister is “multi-dimensional, inclusive, ambitious and will define the global order.”

    “India will become one of the top three economies of the world”

    Addressing the ‘Manorama News Conclave 2023’ organized by Malayala Manorama Group here, the minister said that more than a month ago, Prime Minister Modi had said that India will become one of the top three economies of the world in the next two to three years.

    “India will overtake economies like Germany and Japan.”

    He said, “Recently, global financial company J. There was a report by P. Morgan, which said that India will overtake economies like Germany and Japan and will in fact become the world’s third largest economy by 2027. Irani said that even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also revised India’s growth forecast to 6.3 percent from 6.1 percent, while the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has estimated growth at 6.5 percent.

    He said that all this reveals a lot about India’s possibilities. Responding to a question from the audience on how to tackle child abuse cases in India, the Union Minister said that one of the biggest challenges is that about 80 per cent of cases of abuse involve people who are children. Knew among family or friends. He said that the Ministry of Women and Child Development has established counseling centers for children across the country in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.

    “Mentioned various schemes of the Central Government.”

    The minister also mentioned various schemes of the central government in this regard, including the decision to set up 1,036 fast-track courts across the country, 400 of which are dedicated to handling cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO). He also said about the sports culture in India that the 107 medals won by India in the Asian Games speak volumes about its sporting commitment.

    Unemployment in the country is at the lowest level in six years at 3.2 percent

    The Union Minister also spoke on the issues of unemployment and poverty in the program and claimed that 13.5 crore Indians have been taken out of the clutches of poverty. He also claimed that unemployment in the country is at a six-year low of 3.2 percent.