Union Minister and BJP candidate for Amethi, Smriti Irani, stated on Friday that the Congress has conceded defeat from the constituency even before a vote was cast, claiming that if the opposition party had been optimistic about the results of the polls, they would not have fielded a “proxy candidate” (Kishori Lal Sharma).
‘Gandhis are losing Amethi even before the votes are tallied because they are not battling in the state in Amethi’ Smriti Irani told reporters that ‘if they had seen a glimmer of hope, they would have contested and not put up a proxy candidate.’
“There has been great development in Amethi…if this much has been accomplished in 5 years out of which two years were lost to the battle against Covid, then why was it not done for 50 years in Amethi by the Gandhi family? I want to assure the people of Amethi that the Modi government will return, and we will continue to work for people here, with development being the centre of our focus. Today before a vote has been cast, history has been made. I am grateful to the people of Amethi. Today is the victory of the people of Amethi,” Irani said.
Irani brought up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the Congress was “waiting for elections to conclude in Kerala” in order to thereafter proclaim Rahul Gandhi’s safe seat.
“After the Wayanad election is over, Rahul Gandhi will hunt for a new seat, PM Modi had previously alerted the nation. The leadership of Congress is leaving the battlefield, she remarked.
In Raebareli, Rahul is up against Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP. In the Lok Sabha, he presently represents Wayanad, and Smriti Irani is running for reelection from Amethi.
Raebareli was held by Sonia Gandhi, who became a member of the Rajya Sabha. The Congress party has also named Kishori Lal Sharma, a party loyalist from Amethi, the seat Rahul Gandhi lost in the 2019 general elections to BJP leader Smriti Irani.
The Congress party has also named Kishori Lal Sharma, a party loyalist from Amethi, the seat Rahul Gandhi lost in the 2019 general elections to BJP leader Smriti Irani.
Meanwhile, KL Sharma filed his nomination from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat.
Sonia Gandhi contested elections from here in 1999 before passing the baton on to Rahul in 2004. Irani had earlier filed her nomination as the BJP candidate for Amethi.
Both seats are going to polls in the fifth phase on May 20. Rahul represented Amethi in the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2019. His father and former Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, too, was an elected member of Amethi in the Lower House from 1981 till his death in 1991.
The party has won the Congress bastion in all but three Lok Sabha elections since 1951. Before Sonia Gandhi, former Indira Gandhi had won from Raebareli three times. The constituency also elected Indira’s husband and Congress leader, Feroze Gandhi, twice, in 1952 and 1957. A member of the Nehru-Gandhi family has not contested the seat just twice, in 1962 and 1999.
