Rahul using students as political tools: Smriti Irani

Lashing out at Rahul Gandhi over his protests at Hyderabad Central University, HRD Minister Smriti Irani today accused the Congress vice president of using education as "battle-ground" and students as "political fodder" to take revenge on her for posing a challenge in his Amethi constituency. "Rahul Gandhi would have to take the revenge of Amethi somewhere. I was waiting for it... He wants to make education the battle-ground and use students as political fodder," she told reporters. Rahul is "hell-bent" on extracting revenge for the tough challenge she had posed while contesting against him in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Congress bastion of Amethi, she said. "I have no objections if he wants to take the Amethi fight to other parts of the country. I went to Amethi when Congress was ruling at the Centre. I wasn't scared that time. So why should I be now?" she said. Irani said Rahul should play politics in Amethi or Parliament, not on campuses. "Politics should not be at educational institutes. It should be at the place (Amethi) where I fought the election and in Parliament where I am answerable. For that I am competent and capable," she said. Several Union ministers and BJP leaders have accused Rahul Gandhi of using students as a "political tool" over a Dalit scholar's suicide in the Hyderabad Central University campus and mocked his day-long fast.