Uttar Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath made the comments at a poll meeting in Ghatampur of Kanpur Dehat. (File) Uttar Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath made the comments at a poll meeting in Ghatampur of Kanpur Dehat. (File)

Accusing the Congress of “fooling the nation”, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday alleged that the actual name of Rahul Gandhi was “Raul Vinci”. Addressing a rally in Ghatampur of Kanpur Dehat, Adityanath said the real names of Rahul and Priyanka should be revealed before the people of the country.

“The ‘naamdar’ of Congress you know as Rahul Gandhi… In reality, he is not Rahul Gandhi. His name is Raul Vinci. I am astonished that Congress is committing this sin of fooling the nation. The real names of Rahul and Priyanka should come before people. In Britain and Italy he is Raul Vinci and in India becomes Rahul Gandhi with a fake name,” Adityanath said.

The accusation comes after Independent candidate Dhruv Lal, who is contesting against Rahul from Amethi Lok Sabha seat, filed a complaint with the Returning Officer about alleged discrepancies in the Congress chief’s affidavit.

In the complaint, Lal pointed to a “certificate of incorporation of a company registered in the UK wherein he (Gandhi) has declared himself a UK citizen Raul Vinci”.

Amethi Returning Officer Ram Manohar Mishra had ordered the postponement of scrutiny of Gandhi’s nomination papers to April 22 after Lal filed the complaint. Congress’ Amethi unit chief Yogendra Misra said the objections would be countered legally on Monday.

The BJP also seized on the opportunity to pounce on the Congress chief, with spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao saying that inquiries have shown that the M.Phil degree received by Rahul Gandhi in development economics from Cambridge University was in the name of one ‘Raul Vinci’.

“We will like to know if Rahul Gandhi goes by multiple names in different countries,” he said.

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