TAKING a dig at Congress, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said he was “disappointed” by the party’s decision of not fielding Priyanka Gandhi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi after building up a “suspense for an eventual thriller” in the Lok Sabha elections.

 

Modi is contesting from Varanasi for the Lok Sabha and there were speculations that Congress would field Priyanka against him. However, the party on Thursday again named Ajay Rai, a political lightweight who was a distant third after Modi and Arvind Kejriwal in the 2014 general election, as its candidate from the holy city.

 

“The build-up of the last two weeks had been that Priyanka would be fielded against the Prime Minister. She rejoiced in giving daily bytes to the media that she was ready to take on the Prime Minister. Her brother (Congress President Rahul Gandhi) claimed that the party was building up the suspense for an eventual thriller.

 

“Obviously, she quietly chickened out of the contest. I am deeply disappointed with the Congress party’s decision of not fielding Priyanka from Varanasi,” Jaitley wrote in a Facebook post titled ‘Refuge in Wayanad and a Refuge Away From Varanasi – The Story of a Family Dynasty’.

 

Comparing developmental works in Amethi and Rae Bareli -- the traditional constituencies of Gandhis -- with Varanasi, Jaitley said, “The cards are out in the open for public scrutiny. The Gandhis must introspect the plight of Amethi and Rae Bareli in the last forty years and compare it to what the Prime Minister has done in Varanasi in the past five years”.

 

Jaitley said several development works, including building of highways, arterial roads and modernisation of electricity systems, have taken place in Varanasi in the last five years.