'Take Care of Your Land': Smriti Irani Warns Amethi Against Robert Vadra's Congress Campaign

New Delhi: Union Minister Smriti Irani Sunday cautioned electors in Uttar Pradesh against AICC general secretary for UP east Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s husband Robert Vadra’s decision to campaign for the Congress party in the state.

"Where ever Robert Vadra chooses to campaign, I hope the people there are warned in advance or else they may end up losing their lands," she said.

The Congress party last week had named Vadra in the star campaigner list for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Surprisingly, the decision to include Vadra as a campaigner for the Congress comes underway the ED’s money laundering investigation on him. The ED case relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Square, worth 1.9 million pounds. The property is allegedly owned by Vadra.

Earlier, the BJP had also launched attacks at the Congress over the alleged corruption in land transactions involving Vadra. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at a press conference last month had shown purported sale deeds of land and alleged that the entire Gandhi family including Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her husband had bought land from H L Pahwa.

Smriti Irani had also launched attacks on Vadra and grand old party and levelled similar allegations citing media reports following which the Congress had termed the charges "baseless" and an attempt to divert attention from "rampant joblessness" and "agrarian crisis".

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, among other BJP leaders, had also taken a swipe at the Congress party for including Vadra as a campaigner for the party. Referring to Vadra’s alleged involvement in multiple money laundering cases, Jaitley said “Robert Vadra campaigning for the Congress might turn out to be an asset for the BJP”.

The Congress trio comprising of party president Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and general secretary for UP West are scheduled to hold rallies in Saharanpur, Shamli and Bijnor districts on April 8, where polling is scheduled to be held in the first phase on April 11. It is not known whether Robert Vadra will be joining the trio in these rallies.