This Article is From Nov 24, 2015

'Rahul Gandhi Copying My Speech Style,' Quips Smriti Irani

'Rahul Gandhi Copying My Speech Style,' Quips Smriti Irani

Union Minister Smriti Irani speaks to NDTV's Barkha Dutt

New Delhi: Union Minister Smriti Irani says she finds Rahul Gandhi "copying" her style of giving speeches.

"I have a certain style of giving speeches and bhashans. If you pick up any tape of mine from Amethi you will see me speaking in a particular style. It is interesting...I found that Mr Gandhi had a resonance of my style of speaking," Ms Irani said in an interview on Tuesday.

She was speaking to NDTV as she strolled outside her home, across the road from Rahul Gandhi's Tughlaq Lane bungalow in Delhi's most protected zone.

She laughed at the suggestion that the Congress Vice President was imitating her, saying: "I don't take it as a compliment." She later said she was joking.

On a serious note, the actor-turned-politician, who unsuccessfully challenged Mr Gandhi in his Amethi constituency in last year's national election, said he could "roll up his sleeves as much as he wants to" and he has the right to speak about whatever he wants to.

"Decisively it is the Lok Sabha election which settled the leadership issue between him and Mr (Narendra) Modi," Ms Irani said.

On Rahul Gandhi's allegations about intolerance and being targeted by the government, she said that while the Congress leader was "crying victim", just yesterday he shared stage with a man who had talked about "cutting Modi to pieces" (Imraan Masood, arrested for hate speech last year) . "That shows the true nature of Rahul Gandhi's politics," she said.

Asked what she thought of Mr Gandhi's allegation that he and his family were being targeted by the BJP, the minister quipped: "I don't. I have genuinely a lot of work on my hands."

She also dismissed a comment by Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra that he was being used as a political tool and subjected to a witch-hunt. "Let me use what Vadra said to a cameraperson - are you serious?"
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