Smriti Irani slams Congress for missing poster campaign

Amethi: Union minister Smriti Irani, in a series of tweets, has slammed the Congress for questioning her `absence` from her constituency Amethi.

Unsigned posters of `missing` Smriti Irani had appeared in Amethi on Monday and Congress MLC Deepak Singh questioned her absence from his Twitter handle.

"When Corona struck Amethi, your (Congress) leaders violated lockdown rules. Do you want me to encourage people to come of out their homes so that you can play Twitter-Twitter? Amethi may not be dear to you, but it is to me. Stop playing with people`s lives," she tweeted.

In another tweet, the minister said, "Till now 22,150 migrants have returned to Amethi by bus and 8,322 by train after following all rules. I can give the name of each person, each family. Can Sonia ji give similar details for Rae Bareli?"

Tweeting about the missing posters put up against her, the minister said in another tweet, "If you had put up posters, you should have, at least, given your name too. Why so shy? Is it because you know that people will never forgive those who have shamefully referred to the incident where I joined in the cremation procession of a local leader?"

The minister further stated that she was constantly in touch with the district officials and had made efforts to ensure that every deserving person got the benefit of the Prime Minister`s Garib Kalyan Yojana. "Please let us know how many times Sonia ji has made such efforts for her constituency?" she asked.

The minister wrapped up her series of tweets by informing about her visits to Amethi. "I have visited Amethi ten times in eight months and spent 14 days in Amethi. How many times has Sonia ji visited her constituency?" she stated.

The missing posters, interestingly, were widely shared on the social media platforms by various Congress leaders even though they refused to own up to the fact that the posters had been put up by party leaders.

The poster said that the BJP MP had visited the district `just for a few hours twice since she won the 2019 election.`

The black and white posters, carrying an image of the MP, further said, "We have seen you play `antakshari` on Twitter, give food to some individuals, but the people of Amethi are now looking for you to address their needs and difficulties."

The posters said that `Amethi was a tour destination for Irani`.

The All India Mahila Congress shared the poster from its official twitter handle.

`Missing` poster wars in Amethi have been a regular phenomenon and till 2019, it was Rahul Gandhi who faced similar flak that questioned his absence from his constituency.