Addressing a rally in Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency in West Bengal, he said: “I had said in Parliament 2-3 months before the elections that their biggest leader will not dare to contest elections; that she will run away out of fear. She ran away to Rajasthan and got elected to the Rajya Sabha from there.” He was referring to Sonia Gandhi.
“I had also said that Shehzada will lose the election in Wayanad. In fear of losing the seat, he will look for another seat to contest the election,” he said, targeting Rahul, who is also contesting from the seat in Kerala which he won in 2019.
“His followers were saying that he would contest from Amethi. But he is so afraid of Amethi that he ran away and is trying to find the way in Raebareli. Ye log ghoom ghoom ke sabko kehte hain — daro mat. Main bhi inhen yahi kehta hoon — aur ji bhar ke kehta hoon — arre daro mat, bhaago mat (These people go around telling others not to be afraid. I also say the same thing to them today: don’t be afraid, don’t run away),” he said.
Other BJP leaders also targeted Rahul, accusing him of “running away” from Amethi, from where he lost in 2019.
In Chikkodi, Karnataka, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “Sonia Gandhi has tried to launch Rahul baba 20 times but the launch failed each time. Today, for the 21st time, he ran away from Amethi and filed his nomination from Raebareli. Rahul baba, I can tell you the result of the Raebareli election. You are going to lose badly to Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP.”
Union Minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Rahul in Amethi in 2019, said, “No member of the Gandhi family contesting from Amethi in itself is an indication that Congress has accepted its defeat from Amethi even before elections.”
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said, “Kuchh samay pehle tak Rahul Gandhi kehte the — daro mat, daro mat, daro mat. Ab dar dar kar kabhi Amethi se Wayanad, kabhi Wayanad se Rae Bareli. Ye dikhata hai ki haar ka dar kahaan kahaan le kar jaa raha hai (Till some time ago Rahul Gandhi used to say don’t be afraid. Now out of fear, he is running from Amethi to Wayanad and from Wayanad to Rae Bareli. This shows where all the fear of losing is taking him).”
Former Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, who has joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, a BJP ally, also targeted Rahul. “It seems that while he is telling the whole country not to be afraid, he himself ran away from Amethi for fear of losing. This will make the morale of Congress workers take a dip,” he said.