Smriti got Rahul’s message ‘loud and clear’

Amethi, May 27 (IANS) When BJP MP Smriti Irani lost no time in reaching Amethi to meet the family of a former village head who had been murdered, she gave a strong message that she would take care of her constituency.

Irani has defeated Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi and when the latter conceded defeat, he asked Irani "to take care of Amethi with love".

"I have got the message loud and clear. To the person who gave me the message, I would like to say that I have received the message," she told reporters during her visit here.

She reached Amethi within hours of learning about the killing and went straight to the home of the deceased Surendra Singh, who had worked relentlessly for her victory, in Barauliya village.

She participated in his cremation and even carried the bier on her shoulders.

She spoke to the family members of the deceased, and said that they were her responsibility and she would take care of them.

She asked party workers to exercise restraint. "Surendra Singh was killed so that Amethi could be 'terrorised, disintegrated and bow down'. But now development will reach every household of Amethi in the memory of Surendra Singh," she said.

She further said that if needed, she would even approach the Supreme Court to ensure capital punishment for the killers of the former village head.

Ten persons have been detained by the police in connection with the murder that took place early on Sunday when Surendra Singh was sleeping outside his house.

Smriti Irani had won from Amethi with over 55,000 votes, defeating Rahul Gandhi, its three-time MP. She destroyed the Congress bastion and scored one of the biggest upset of these elections.

After scoring the victory, she had tweeted Dushyant Kumar's famous lines, "Kaun kehta hai assman mein surrag nahin ho sakta" (who says you cannot achieve the impossible).