Congress is creating hurdles in court in Ayodhya case: Smriti Irani

January 04, 2019 19:26

Union minister Smriti Irani blamed the Congress on Friday for "creating hurdles" in the judicial process in the Ram temple case through its lawyers and said 'Ram bhakts' should ask the party about it.

"The Congress should not do politics through its lawyers on the Ram temple issue, which is a matter of faith for people. Its leaders, as lawyers, are creating hurdles in the court. People and Ram bhakts should ask the party whether its leader wore 'janeu' (sacred thread) only for the polls in three states," she said.

Her reference was to senior Congress leader and lawyer Kapil Sibal, who had urged the Supreme Court to defer the hearing of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case until after the 2019 general election.

She made the comment hours after the apex court said an appropriate bench constituted by it will pass an order on January 10 to fix the date of hearing in the case.

Irani was visiting Amethi, about 140km from the state capital Lucknow, and said this when talking to reporters ahead of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's scheduled two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency, which was later cancelled as he was in Lok Sabha for a debate on the Rafale fighter jet controversy.

The Union minister also criticised Gandhi for remaining "silent" when Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath had said people from UP and Bihar get employment in MP at the cost of the local population.

"Why was Rahul silent when Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath spoke against people from UP and Bihar working in that state? How will he look into the eyes of people in Amethi today?" she said.

Irani had unsuccessfully contested against Gandhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and they are likely to fight again from Amethi in the general election this year.

For Irani's visit, local BJP leaders had put up posters seeking an explanation from Gandhi on Kamal Nath's statement on workers from UP and Bihar. One of the posters carried a collage of newspaper clippings of his statement.

Soon after being sworn in as Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Kamal Nath had announced a new state government policy under which industries availing investment incentives will need to give 70 per cent employment to the local youth. -- PTI

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar arrested in Swati Maliwal 'assault' case

Bibhav Kumar was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal who sent him to five-day police custody after the police sought his remand to question him about the incident and to retrieve data from his phone.

Back to back terror attacks in J-K: Ex-sarpanch killed, tourist couple shot at

Terrorists struck at two places in Kashmir on Saturday night, killing a former sarpanch in Shopian and injuring a tourist couple from Rajasthan in Anantnag, two days ahead of Lok Sabha elections in Baramulla.

I dedicate my man of the match award to Dayal: Faf du Plessis

Pacer Yash Dayal kept his cool in a tense final over to seal a 27-run win against Chennai Super Kings and send RCB through to the play-offs.

IPL PIX: Spirited RCB knock out CSK; qualify for play-offs!

A spirited performance from their bowlers saw Royal Challengers Bengaluru outclass Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs to qualify for the play-offs.

Banking industry doyen N Vaghul dies at 88

Veteran banker N Vaghul, who led the transformation of ICICI into a private sector lender, died on Saturday afternoon due to health complications. He was 88. Vaghul took over the reins of ICICI, then a public finance institution, in...