UNION Minister Smriti Irani on Monday took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stating that if he “remains” in Wayanad, it would suffer the same fate as Amethi in Uttar Pradesh when he was the MP from there. Gandhi was the MP from Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency before his conviction and sentencing for two years by a Gujarat court in a criminal defamation case.

After inaugurating the State-level Women Labour Convention organised by the Kerala unit of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) here, Irani said she had the “good fortune” of being the one who “sent away” Gandhi from Amethi.

“The reason for that was that while he was an MP from Amethi, 80 per cent of the people there did not have electricity connections, there was no District Collector’s office, no fire station, no medical college, no Kendriya Vidyalaya or Sainik School and the district hospital had no dialysis centre or X-ray machine. “Once he left, all these facilities and infrastructure were made possible there. Therefore, if he remains in Wayanad, it too shall suffer the same fate as Amethi. So, you (people) have to ensure he does not remain here,” the Union Minister for Women and Child Development said.

The Minister further said that she has decided to convert 250 anganwadis in Wayanad into ‘saksham’ (capable) anganwadis. A saksham anganwadi is a Centrally sponsored scheme under which anganwadis in States and Union Territories provide a package of six services -- supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal education, nutrition and health education, immunisation, health check-up and referral services -- to all the eligible beneficiaries.