'If Rahul Gandhi is man enough...': BJP's Amit Malviya dares Congress leader to contest from Amethi in 2024

BJP's Amit Malviya on Tuesday dared former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to contest the next Lok Sabha election from Amethi, which he lost to Smriti Irani in 2019. In a tweet, he said Gandhi should announce his bid from the seat and should not hide behind party leaders like Ajay Rai.      

"If Rahul Gandhi is man enough, he should come out openly and announce his bid for Amethi in 2024, and not hide behind minions like Ajay Rai...And he should contest from just one seat. Is he up for the challenge?" he said.

Malviya's challenge comes just a day after Ajay Rai made a controversial remark against Irani, who defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi by over 50,000 votes.

Till 2019, Amethi was the bastion of the Congress, which held the seat from 1980 to 1998 and 1999 to 2014. Rahul Gandhi won the seat three times (2004, 2009, and 2019) before losing it to Smriti Irani, who challenged him on his turf the second time.    

On Monday, Congress leader Ajay Rai said Amethi is certainly the Gandhi family's seat and will remain so. He said former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and many members of the Gandhi family have served the place. "Smriti Irani only comes and does 'latke jhatke' and goes away. Congress workers want Rahul Gandhi to fight 2024 polls from there," he said.

Rai's remarks did not go down well with the National Commission for Women, which has taken cognizance of the "misogynistic" comments. The Commission has scheduled a hearing in the matter and sent a notice to Rai to appear before it on December 28 at 12 pm.

The Congress leader, who contested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 from Varanasi, today said that he didn't intend to insult anyone. He stood by his 'latke-jhatke' comment saying it is a colloquial language "which means that somebody suddenly appears and says something and then disappears". "It is not unparliamentary language. So why should I apologize?" he said.