Jamshedpur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday criticised Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for “abandoning” Raebareli and nominating her son Rahul Gandhi from the Gandhi bastion instead of a party worker, who has worked there for a long time, media reports said.

Addressing a poll rally in Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur, Modi said, “Sonia Gandhi went to Raebareli for campaign and told the people ‘Beta, saunp rahi hu’. Wasn’t there a single party worker in the constituency who has worked a long time for Congress?”

Modi also highlighted Sonia Gandhi’s absence from Raebareli, which she represented in parliament.

“Sonia Gandhi did not visit Raebareli even once after Covid and now she has gone there asking for votes in favour of her son,” Modi said.

On Saturday, Sonia Gandhi addressed an election rally in Raebareli, her former constituency, accompanied by her children Rahul and Priyanka.

The former Congress president announced that she was entrusting her son, Rahul Gandhi, to Raebareli, assuring the crowd that "he will not disappoint you."

Notably, Rahul Gandhi is also contesting polls from Kerala's Wayanad where voting took place on April 26.

PM Modi further hit out at Rahul Gandhi for fighting on two Lok Sabha seats. "

The Congress prince has left Wayanad for Raebareli to contest the elections. He is telling everyone that this seat belongs to his mother," he said.

"Even an eight-year-old child attending school doesn't claim it as his father's school, even if his father studied there. These family-oriented individuals are treating parliamentary seats as their inheritance. Jharkhand must be protected from such family-oriented parties," the Prime Minister added.