"Rahul Gandhi should contest polls from Italy": BJP MLA Balmukundacharya
May 05, 2024
Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], May 5 : Hitting out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his candidature from Raebareli for the Lok Sabha elections, BJP MLA Balmukundacharya on Saturday said the former would be better suited to contest from his "maternal home" in Italy.
Rahul's mother and Congress heavyweight Sonia Gandhi was born in a small village near Vicenza, Italy.
Speaking to ANI on Sunday, Balmukundacharya said, "Rahul Gandhi should fight elections from Italy. He must visit his maternal home and contest the elections there. There is no seat left for him here to contest. The current state of Rahul is no different from his party, the Congress."
In a scathing attack on the Congress, the BJP MLA said the grand old party has only robbed the country of its resources.
"The Congress was mostly involved in scams. It looted public wealth and divided the people to an extent that they are yet to recover from it," he added.
Claiming that the state of affairs in the country has been much better under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Balmukundacharya said from 2014, progress and prosperity have returned to India.
"The nation is surging ahead, Sanatan Dharma remains omnipresent and the country is emerging as a world leader under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hence, no matter where he contests the elections from, Rahul Gandhi will lose," the BJP MLA added.
Earlier, a complaint was filed against Rahul for filing his nomination from Raebareli on grounds of his nationality and his conviction in a defamation case.
The complaint questioned how his nomination could be deemed valid by the Election Commission when there were questions around his nationality.
"On behalf of Anirudh Pratap Singh, we have registered a complaint with the Returning Officer of Raebareli demanding the cancellation of Rahul Gandhi's nomination papers on two grounds. First, Rahul Gandhi was convicted for two years and is ineligible to contest elections. Even though the Supreme Court has put a stay on Rahul Gandhi's conviction, it has not passed a final verdict in the matter," Ashok Pandey, an advocate for the complainant, Anirudh Pratap Singh, said.
Alleging that Rahul was a British national, Pandey said, "In 2006, Rahul Gandhi once mentioned his nationality as British. Being a British citizen, he cannot contest elections in the country, as per our Constitution."
Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Raebareli on Friday.
