Kangana unaware of Mandi Parliamentary Constituency area: Congress leader hits back after her outsider jibe at Vikramaditya Singh

Himachal Pradesh Congress general secretary Rajneesh Kimta on Friday hit back at Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, who is making her electoral debut as the BJP candidate from the high-profile Mandi Lok Sabha constituency and asked her to improve the political knowledge about the constituency.

Himachal Pradesh Congress general secretary Rajneesh Kimta on Friday hit back at Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, who is making her electoral debut as the BJP candidate from the high-profile Mandi Lok Sabha constituency and asked her to improve the political knowledge about the constituency. "Kangana Ranaut should know how big this Lok Sabha constituency of Mandi is. She should know how many total segments are there and who are the residents of that constituency. However, she is not aware of the complete segments and areas of the Mandi parliamentary constituency," Kimta told ANI.

Speaking to ANI Kimta said that neither the BJP workers can tell Kangna nor she is understanding the facts about the parliamentary constituency. He said that Ranaut does not even know the geography of the constituency that she is contesting from after the BJP candidate claimed that Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh, son of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and state Congress chief and Mandi MP Pratibha Singh, was not from Mandi,

Ranaut said that Vikramaditya Singh, who is Congress' election in-charge for Mandi, is not a local but an outsider. His mother and Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh is the sitting MP of the constituency. "If she says Vikramaditya is not from Mandi, she doesn't know anything about the parliamentary constituency," he added.

Kimta said that Ranaut should have known that both the mother and father of Vikramaditya Singh have represented the Mandi Parliament Segment together seven times as MPs. "Vikramaditya Singh belongs to Rampur and it is an integral part of the Mandi Parliamentary Constituency. She should know that this is not an election of the Mandi district. It is a parliamentary constituency which has 17 assembly segments," he said.

Kimta also questioned Ranaut's decision to contest Mandi, when earlier she refused to fight. "When earlier asked by BJP to contest from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut had earlier stated that she didn't want to contest from a small constituency which has a very small population." He asked what had now changed that Mandi had become big for her. Kimta also said that another BJP MP and candidate from Shimla Parliamentary segments as MP has not visited over 300 segments during his tenure as MP, while the Congress MP has visited all 17 segments of Mandi and has distributed equal development funds to the area.

He said that very soon party will finalize all candidates for four Parliamentary Constituencies and six assembly by-elections. He claimed that the party would win all Lok Sabha and assembly by-elections. He said the party has started actively working all together in the field. On being asked about the statement of senior Congress leader, Harish Rawat's "Congress party being lazy and needs to work actively," he said that the Congress party doesn't agree with the statement of Harish Rawat.

"The Congress party is active and we are working at every level. We are active at the booth, block, district and state level. We have a set-up, I am not aware of the statement of Harish Rawat ji and I don't also agree with his statement about the party being lazy. I don't know in what context he has said so," said Kimta. Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh questioned Ranaut over her contribution during last year's Himachal floods as she (Kangana) calls herself Himachal's daughter.

"Voters will ask her what contribution she made. During last year's floods, Himachal faced massive destruction. As a Bollywood actress, she has no shortage of money, if she didn't want to contribute with money at least she would have paid a visit to the state and met families who are under grief and pain as she claims of being Himachal's daughter." Himachal Pradesh has four Lok Sabha seats: Hamirpur, Mandi, Shimla, and Kangra. The BJP had won all four seats in 2019. The elections to the four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh and by-polls to the six assembly constituencies that fell vacant with the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs will be held on June 1. (ANI)

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