Ramesh Chennithala
Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday termed as "cheap political games" the visit of Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani to Wayanad and her criticism of the alleged lack of development in Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's parliamentary constituency.
Jumping to the defence of Gandhi, Chennithala said Wayanad was not the ideal place for Irani and her Sangh Parivar politics and that the people will reject the political games being played by her.
The Union Minister, when she visited the district two days ago, had said that there was "much that has not been done" there.
She had pointed out various shortcomings, like lack of water connections to around 1.35 lakh households, non-screening for health issues common among tribals, non-digitisation of their land records and ensuring skill development among the tribals, that she said were brought to her attention by the district administration.
The BJP leader had further said ease of living of the tribals needs to be enhanced, infrastructure in the district needs to be strengthened and developed and services like health, education, nutrition and financial services, needs to be delivered to the people there, especially the poorest of the poor.
"There is much that has not been done and I have been assured (by the district administration) that it will be done," the Union Minister had said.
Irani, an arch rival of Rahul Gandhi and who had defeated him in the Congress bastion of Amethi in the 2019 general elections, had also taken a dig at him by saying, "I am not Rahul Gandhi, I don't run from Amethi."
This was in response to a query on whether she would consider contesting elections from Wayanad if her party asks her to.
Reacting to her visit and her comments to the media, Chennithala said it was not clear why she came to Wayanad and challenged Gandhi, but if communalism was her goal then she should keep it in mind that Kerala was not the right place for it.
He also termed it as "cheap political games" which were not becoming of a minister who has come to power in accordance with the Constitution. PTI
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