LUCKNOW: BJP MP from Amethi and Union Minister Smriti Irani, on Monday, challenged former Congress chief and party’s Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, to contest from his traditional constituency of Amethi if he had the confidence to win.
"In 2019 he (Rahul Gandhi) left Amethi, today Amethi has left him. If he is confident, then without going to Wayanad let him fight from Amethi alone," said Irani while talking to media persons.
Incidentally, both Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi were present in Amethi on Monday. While Irani reached her parliamentary constituency on a four-day tour to take part in rural outreach village Chaupal campaign of the BJP and also to hold grih-pravesh of her residence in Medan Mawai village on February 22, Rahul Gandhi led his Baharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra from Pratapgarh to Amethi where he stayed overnight.
It may be recalled that Rahul Gandhi had lost Amethi to BJP’s Smriti Irani by a margin of over 50,000 votes leaving the Congress with just one Lok Sabha seat of Rae Bareli in 2019 general elections.
The Union Minister tried to underplay Rahul’s Naya Yatra in his erstwhile constituency by claiming that empty roads of Amethi were the testimony of Rahul Gandhi’s popularity.
Holding a Jan Samwad programme in Amethi as part of a four-day visit to her parliamentary constituency, Smriti Irani said that despite having won three consecutive elections from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi did very little for Amethi which was well reflected by the deserted streets which welcomed his Yatra.
“Congress had to call workers from Sultanpur and Pratapgarh to welcome the Yatra," Irani told media persons.
"Amethi was distressed to note how its former representative insulted his voters in Wayanad. Moreover, the invite to consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya was rejected by him and his family. Amethi is dismayed at this also," she said.
Smriti Irani claimed that the double engine government of PM Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath had pushed the development initiatives so much in Amethi so that the business capacity of parliamentary segment had gone up. "An investment of Rs 6,253 crore has been made in Amethi, 662 projects have started. The Coca-Cola factory established in Ramganj Trishundi, Amethi, is the largest in South Asia. The biggest enterprise is the country's largest hatchery and poultry feed established in Amethi," she added.
