New Delhi: Barring brief spells in the late 1970s and early 1990s, Amethi has always been held by the Congress with four members of the Nehru-Gandhi family representing it. This time, however, the BJP top brass has put in its might in a bid to defeat Congress president and sitting MP Rahul Gandhi with his challenger Smriti Irani and BJP president Amit Shah holding a joint rally in the high-profile seat, where campaigning ended on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had campaigned for Ms Irani last month.
Mr Shah described the fight as one between “dynasty and development”. Talking to PTI during the roadshow, Mr Shah said, “In Uttar Pradesh, the choice is between dynasty and development. And people will choose development over dynasty.”
He asserted that the BJP would win the Amethi Lok Sabha seat by one lakh votes. “Our overall seats in Uttar Pradesh will also increase,” Mr Shah said.
The Union textiles minister, who is challenging Mr Gandhi for the third consecutive time and has been nurturing the constituency since first jumping into fray in 2009, had lost to the Congress chief by only 1.07 lakh votes in 2014, considered not too big a margin for a seat as high-profile as Amethi.
Confident of her victory this time, Ms Irani said, “People of Amethi want change. They want development and they will vote for (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi.”
Ms Irani though has had a tough challenger in Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has been managing both Amethi and Rae Bareli constituencies for her brother and mother Sonia Gandhi.
Congress sources said that the decision taken to field Ms Gandhi Vadra from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi was rescinded keeping mind the need for her to campaign extensively in these two constituencies.
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