LUCKNOW: With the return of Rahul Gandh to Parliament after a gap of 137 days following the stay by the Supreme Court of his sentence in a criminal defamation case by a trial court, both the Congress and ruling BJP are set to remodel their 2024 Lok Sabha elections strategy for Amethi and Rae Bareli.
At present, Sonia Gandhi is the lone Lok Sabha representative in Lok Sabha from UP representing Rae Bareli in the lower house of Parliament.
Till the 2019 general election, Congress had two MPs from UP -- Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli and Rahul Gandhi from Amethi -- but in 2019 Rahul lost in Amethi to BJP's Smirti Irani.
Now, with the return of Rahul Gandhi to Parliament, not only has a buoyant Congress party become hopeful of him trying his luck again from Amethi in 2024 but also the BJP has begun weighing the possibilities and re-drawing its strategy for Amethi.
The confidence of Congressmen at the prospect of Rahul contesting again from Amethi manifested itself when jubilant party workers in Amethi cut a 51-kilogram laddoo, burst crackers and distributed sweets among the masses to celebrate the stay on Rahul Gandhi's sentence by the apex court.
According to the party's former MLC Deepak Singh, the way the people of Amethi celebrated the stay on Rahul Gandhi's sentence, they seem assured that he would return to Amethi to contest in 2024. "The mood of the people of Amethi says it all," said Deepak Singh.
A delegation of UP Congress leaders was expected to meet Rahul Gandhi in Delhi after the monsoon session of Parliament to urge him to contest from Amethi in 2024, said Singh.
When contacted, UP minister of state for sports and minister in-charge of Amethi, Girish Yadav, said Congress had little chance of winning back the seat.
"As the minister in-charge of Amethi, I am well aware of the people's mood. They know how things have changed in Amethi ever since the BJP won. Union minister Smriti Irani, the local MP of Amethi, has done so much for the people that irrespective of the rival candidate against her, it will be a no contest," said Yadav.
Irani, now the Union minister for Minority Affairs, has already stepped up her visits with the Lok Sabha polls less than a year away. Between June and August alone, she has spent more than 50 days in her constituency. She was in Amethi again on Sunday to launch the campaign for redevelopment of 508 railway stations across the country. Fifty-five of these, including Amethi and Rae Bareli railway stations, are in Uttar Pradesh.
