No personal attack on Narendra Modi, just stated facts: Rahul in Amethi

Amethi: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday filed his nomination from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. He was accompanied by his mother Sonia, sister Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra.  

"I have been working in Amethi for 10 years.We have family ties with Amethi, it will be a good victory," Mr Gandhi told reporters.

He also said that opinion polls would be proved wrong like in 2004 and 2009 and Congress would return to power for a third term.

Mr Gandhi also rejected criticism that he made a personal attack against Narendra Modi by referring to his marital status, saying he just stated that he had previously not mentioned about his wife in poll affidavits.

"I did not get personal. I just stated that on his affidavits he had previously not mentioned something. So it's not a personal thing," he told reporters here soon after filing his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha polls.

Flanked by his mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka, the Congress Vice-President also rubbished the projection of opinion polls that his party will lose elections.

He said Congress had been written off by the opinion polls in 2004 as well as 2009 but those did not prove to be correct.

"They (opinion polls) kept saying Congress will lose but you know what happened," he said, referring to his party's unexpected victories in last two Lok Sabha elections.

Asked about polarising statements made by leaders of various political parties, he said attempts to polarise elections take place every time and Congress will take everybody along.

The Congress party is locked in a three-way battle with BJP fielding actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani from the seat and poet-turned-politician Kumar Vishwas representing AAP.

For more than 30 years, the people of Amethi, a wheat-growing region dotted with hamlets, have turned out to elect different members of India's most famous clan.

Rahul Gandhi followed in his uncle, mother and father's footsteps in becoming the area's member of parliament, winning thumping victories there in 2004 and 2009.

But even here, in the most partisan of spots in Uttar Pradesh state 600 kilometres east of Delhi, echoes of the doubts raised in the capital about the 43-year-old's leadership can be heard.

Many say the mild-mannered bachelor is inaccessible and a rare visitor. Others wonder what he has achieved over 10 years of representing his 1.2 million constituents. With some surveys predicting the worst-ever result for the Congress in elections, which begin on Monday, its vice-president faces unprecedented pressure.

In Uttar Pradesh state elections in 2012, Congress lost three out of five assembly seats in Amethi, and all five in neighbouring Rae Bareli, represented by Rahul's mother Sonia, president of the party since 1998.