Gandhi family will no longer formally associate with UP: Shehzad Poonawala

Taking a jibe at Congress after the party's Parliamentary Party President Sonia Gandhi filed her nomination for Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan, BJP's spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala questioned the party's formal "association" with Uttar Pradesh in future and said that Congress fears of losing Raebareli.

"One thing is clear with this nomination that the Gandhi family will no longer formally have any association with Uttar Pradesh...Uttar Pradesh nurtured the family politically. First, they lost Amethi and now they have come to know that perhaps they are going to lose the seat in Raebareli also."

It's noteworthy that Amethi and Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh used to be strong grounds for Congress. However, party leader Rahul Gandhi lost his Lok Sabha Constituency to BJP leader Smriti Irani in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier, Rajasthan BJP spokesperson, Laxmikant Bhardwaj launched a scathing attack at the Congress party.

"The Congress party has been ruling Rajasthan for five years and committed atrocities against people, especially women. Rajasthan has reached the number one position in terms of crimes against women. Sonia Gandhi maintained silence on it. She kept protecting the Rajasthan government despite grave failures," he lashed out.

He emphasised, "A total of 19 papers got leaked and the future of lakhs of students was destroyed."

Sonia Gandhi filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha election from Rajasthan on Wednesday.

Party MP Rahul Gandhi, party's general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and state party president Govind Singh Dotasra were also present.

Sonia Gandhi was Congress president for almost 22 years between 1998 and 2022 and is a five-time Lok Sabha MP from Raebareli.

The move to file nominations for Rajya Sabha comes ahead of Lok Sabha polls expected to be held in April-May this year. There are 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan. In the upcoming biennial elections, three seats in the State are up for grabs. The ruling BJP is set to get two of the seats, while the Opposition Congress will get one, based on their respective strengths in the State Assembly.