Amethi is all set for a political showdown on Monday with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Union minister Smriti Irani scheduled to arrive in the parliamentary constituency.
This marks a rare convergence of the political heavyweights in the electoral battleground that was once known as the Gandhi family’s stronghold. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Smriti Irani unseated Rahul Gandhi, ending his 15-year reign in Amethi.
Smriti Irani will be on a four-day day visit to Amethi, starting today, as part of her Jan Samvad Vikas Yatra. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi, along with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, will enter Amethi as part of his ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
This will be the first time since the 2022 UP assembly polls when the two leaders had campaigned on the same day in Amethi but at different places for their party candidates, a Lok Sabha constituency the Congress has lost only thrice till now.
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“Definitely Amethi and Rae Bareli are not mere constituencies for us. They are home to our party leadership and surely someone from the (Gandhi) family will contest,” UP Congress chief Ajay Rai said while stating that BJP scheduling Smriti’s programme on the same day in Amethi showcased “growing restlessness in the BJP camp.”
Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to enter Amethi from Pratapgarh as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which started in Manipur and will culminate in Maharashtra’s Mumbai. He will hold a roadshow as well as a public meeting in a region that elected him for three consecutive terms before his 2019 defeat.
After an overnight stay, possibly near Fursatganj, Rahul and his yatra will enter Rae Bareli, the only Lok Sabha seat in U.P. that the Congress won in 2019.
Rahul’s visit comes at a time when the buzz about Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contesting from Amethi is gaining momentum after Sonia Gandhi’s decision to shift to the Rajya Sabha and her assertion that Gandhis will continue their association with the region.
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Both leaders have packed itineraries, and their paths are expected to cross only symbolically during this visit.
Amethi, once a bastion for the Gandhi family, continues to be a focal point in Indian politics and is expected to again witness a fierce contest BJP and the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.