A proposed food park would have transformed lives in Rae Bareli and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh but the BJP government stopped it, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday.
Mr. Gandhi, who is contesting from Rae Bareli as his second seat, made this charge in a video where he discusses the Gandhi family’s association with Rae Bareli and Amethi constituencies with his mother Sonia Gandhi.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi’s political journey from Amethi to Rae Bareli in 20 years
“We were getting 40 different factories that were related to agriculture and horticulture. That food park would have transformed the face of Amethi and Rae Bareli but the BJP people stopped it,” he said in the six-minute video.
“This is my plan for Rae Bareli, to connect with the rest of the country by setting up manufacturing units and creating food processing strategies,” Mr. Gandhi added.
Recalling his track record as an MP from Amethi, Mr. Gandhi said he focused on road connectivity, opening bank accounts and helping lakhs of women through self-help groups, setting up a petroleum institute and a CRPF training camp.
‘Our karmabhoomi’
“Rae Bareli and Amethi are not just constituencies for us. They are our karmabhoomi…. This relationship, built on the foundation of love and trust over 100 years, has given us everything,” the Congress leader said in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Ms. Gandhi, who represented the Rae Bareli constituency for five consecutive terms before opting out of this election, recounted how the seat was represented by her father-in-law Feroze Gandhi, then Indira Gandhi before she joined their ranks.
She also recalled the development work done by her husband and former Prime Minister, the late Rajiv Gandhi, in Amethi.
“I started visiting in 1981-82 to hold medical camps there, with doctors from Delhi going there to offer their services,” Ms. Gandhi said to her son, in response to a question on her initial visits to Rae Bareli.
Both the leaders asserted that the people of both the Lok Sabha seats are part of their family.
“They have given us everything. Whenever the people of Rae Bareli and Amethi need us, we will be there,” they said in the video.
