BJP pick will win Amethi: Smriti Irani

Several eminent speakers made it to the second day of TNIE’s ThinkEdu conclave on Thursday, sparking stimulating and scintillating discussions on a wide array of topics around education. 

Published: 15th February 2019 01:38 AM  |   Last Updated: 15th February 2019 04:43 AM   |  A+A A-

Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani at a press conference at the party office in New Delhi Tuesday Feb 5 2019.

Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani at a press conference at the party office in New Delhi Tuesday Feb 5 2019. | PTI

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Several eminent speakers made it to the second day of TNIE’s ThinkEdu conclave on Thursday, sparking stimulating and scintillating discussions on a wide array of topics around education. 
One of the star speakers was Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani. When asked whom she would pick between Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to contest against her in Amethi, she said: How do you pick between two bad apples?”

Irani, who was in a conversation with TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla and former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, refused to confirm if she would be contesting from Amethi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. 

She said her party president Amit Shah would take the decision and that she was confident of a BJP victory in the Gandhi stronghold.

“No matter who runs on that ticket from the Congress party, the BJP will win,” she said. Irani contested against Rahul from Amethi in 2014, but lost to him by a margin of around 1 lakh votes.
However, she said that she had since worked ‘diligently’ for Amethi, despite the mandate going against her. 

Closing the banter, Prabhu Chawla said the BJP “probably hated the Gandhis”, to which Irani replied: “Hate is too strong a word, politically or otherwise.” 
Several other eminent speakers including Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and Puducherry L-G Kiran Bedi participated.