'Let's not be under any illusion...': Smriti Irani decodes arch rival Rahul Gandhi's politics

BJP leader and former Union Minister Smriti Irani in a recent podcast shared her honest assessment of her arch rival and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. She said that Rahul Gandhi believes that he has 'tasted success' after a long time and is out there spreading confusion. 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi by a margin of 55,120 votes. Five years later, tables turned on Irani as she was defeated by Congress' Kishori Lal Sharma by a margin of 1.67 lakh votes. 

"So let's not be under any illusion that every move he makes, whether we think it's good or bad, or even childish, isn't calculated. They're planning a different game in politics now, and these guys are far from naive," the BJP leader said. 

She also claimed in this podcast that nobody is examining Gandhi's statements for whether they're really rooted in the truth.  Smriti Irani further said that the Congress leader's temple run was not getting any traction and it was more of a joke. 

Irani, who got defeated from Amethi in the recent Lok Sabha polls, also alleged that the Congress shifted its narrative from Hinduism to caste simply because of this reason. 

"They (Congress) realised that they are not getting any traction just from having a spiritual desire or bowing down to God. So, if they can traction based on caste, what does that look like? It's definitely a political issue for them (Congress). If he (Rahul Gandhi) had a political mindset, we would have seen it reflected in his political journey already," Smriti Irani said. 

She also claimed that talking about caste on social media and off it is a part of the Congress party's political strategy. Besides from decoding the change in Gandhi's politics, Smriti Irani also called him out for his recent comments on the Miss India contest. 

Gandhi recently said at an event in Prayagraj that there were no Dalits and adivasis in the list of Miss India contestants. Furthermore, Gandhi targeted cricket, Bollywood and the media for a lack of representation of Dalits and adivasis. 

"He knows that Miss India has nothing to do with forming the government, but he still says things like that on social media. Because it makes the headlines," she said.