Over 3 lakh votes I got in Amethi in 2014 told me people needed help there: Irani

Union minister Smriti Irani, who defeated former Congress president and three-term Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi in the last Lok Sabha elections, on Saturday said she saw there "some people picking up grain from mud to eat" in 2014.

She said the number of votes she got as runner up candidate in 2014 was a sign to her that the people in Amethi needed help.

I don't find it funny when it comes to Amethi. I saw some people picking up grains from mud to eat in Amethi in 2014," said Irani, talking of her experiences as Lok Sabha candidate for the seat she had been tending since 2014 despite having lost it then.

"When people go without food and you, as a political leader stand on their shoulders and become prime minister, it is not an aspect I take comfort in," she said during a question-answer session at a function held here for the distribution of Devi Award, instituted by the Indian Express group in collaboration with the ASSOCHAM.

Irani was asked for her reasons behind winning from Amethi despite having lost from there five year ago.

Attributing her victory to the signs she got by over three lakh votes that she secured in Amethi in 2014 elections, Irani said, "The number of votes I polled in 2014 was a sign for me that people needed help."