Ever since Union minister Smriti Irani submitted her poll affidavit, the opposition has been relentless in taking digs at her, with Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi even parodying a television serial which featured Irani.
“A new serial is going to come, 'Kyunki Mantri Bhi Kabhi Graduate Thi'; Its opening line will be 'Qualifications ke bhi roop badalte hain, naye-naye sanche mein dhalte hain, ek degree aati hai, ek degree jaati hai, bante affidavit naye hain,” Chaturvedi had ridiculed the minister, who in her poll affidavit, said she not complete her graduation from Delhi University.
Reacting sharply to the Congress targeting Irani over her educational qualifications, Union minister Arun Jaitley, in his blog, said the Congress is focusing on the the minister's educational credentials, “fully forgetting that a public audit of Rahul Gandhi’s academic credentials may leave a lot to be answered. After all, he got an M.Phil without a Masters degree!”
Also Read
- Panel pulls up Centre for failing to give EVM-VVPAT tally data for 2019 Lok Sabha polls
- Defeated by BJP's EVM hacking, party sabotage: Congress candidate
- Gehlot in damage-control mode after blaming Pilot for Jodhpur loss
- 'Priyanka did her job, but party, workers could not rise to occasion'
- EVMs a must for democracy, can't be tampered with: BEL CMD
He also claimed in the blog that the opposition is distraught in many states as the Modi “factor” has been working and alliances not working out for them. “Multi-cornered contest obviously favours the BJP. Verbal battles between the Left, Trinamool and the Congress and now AAP and the Congress are increasingly visible,” he wrote.
He further noted that the Congress is receiving no support from the likes of BSP leader Mayawati, the Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee.
“To oust a popular Government, an extremely popular Prime Minister, you need some real issues, not fictional issues,” and added that the opposition wasted last two years by focusing on “manufacturing issues” which were never really there. “The false campaign on Rafale didn’t carry much weight. Loan waiver to industrialists was a lie, the EVM as an instrument of rigging was a bigger lie. Now that they are in the midst of the campaign for over a month what is the issue which they are able to focus on,” he wrote.
On people from various walks of life, including movie directors, artists, scientists and actors coming out with appeals to to people to vote against the BJP, he said, “ You will always find enough people on either side of the political divide in various disciplines who are willing to sign the memorandum one way or the other. These groups include ‘academics’, ‘economists’, ‘artistes’, ‘ex-civil servants’ and now even some former ‘soldiers’ - many of those whose signature appear have not consented to their signatures been put.”
