Politics

Didi vs Bhaiya: Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi Face Off in Amethi Amid 2019 Rematch Buzz

A political showdown is expected to occur in Amethi on Monday when Congressman Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani are expected to arrive in this prominent Lok Sabha seat on the same day. There is speculation that they will be running for the same seat in the parliamentary elections that are scheduled for April and May. Irani had defeated Rahul Gandhi in the Modi wave to seize the Amethi Lok Sabha seat from the Congress in 2019. Irani will arrive for a four-day visit to her constituency as part of her Jan Samvad Vikas Yatra, while Rahul Gandhi and Congress chairman Mallikarjun Kharge will reach Amethi as part of their ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

In Amethi, a Lok Sabha seat that the Congress has only lost three times to date, this will be the first time since the 2022 U.P. assembly elections that the two leaders will have campaigned for their party candidates on the same day but at different locations. Amethi and Rae Bareli are unquestionably more than just constituencies to us. They are the home of our party leadership, thus it is inevitable that a member of the Gandhi family will run for office, according to UP Congress head Ajay Rai. He also said that the BJP’s decision to hold Smriti’s event on the same day in Amethi demonstrated “growing restlessness in the BJP camp.”

Rahul is anticipated to travel from Pratapgarh to Amethi on Monday as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. He is scheduled to host a public meeting and a roadshow in a region that elected him three times in a row before his defeat in the 2019 Modi wave. To continue her Amethi Jan Samvad Vikas Yatra, Smriti will pick up where she left off, visiting individuals in each of the five assembly constituencies that comprise her Lok Sabha. Rahul and his yatra will arrive in Rae Bareli, the lone U.P. Lok Sabha constituency that the Congress won in 2019, after spending the night somewhere, most likely close to Fursatganj. With Sonia Gandhi’s announcement that the Gandhi family will remain associated with the area and her decision to move to the Rajya Sabha, rumors about Rahul’s sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra running for the seat are starting to spread.

Also Read: PM Modi Launches 14,000 Projects at UPGIS 2023 Ground-breaking Ceremony: Top Updates

On Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organized for some four thousand people to come see the recently opened Ayodhya temple. Additional trips are planned. On February 22, Smriti is scheduled to host a housewarming celebration for her recently constructed Amethi home. Her 2019 long-term strategy campaign revolved around the idea that, although Rahul had been a generally unapproachable MP, she would remain in the public eye if she were elected. Irani hopes to quietly inform the public during the housewarming function that she has fulfilled every pledge she made to them during the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign. She would look for another opportunity to help the people in her capacity as their “didi.” When Rahul Gandhi was referred to as “bhaiya” in this context until 2014, the term “didi” was coined as a response. “We are not travelers. After the housewarming, you will see Didi living here, as we have fulfilled our word,” stated Vijay Gupta, the Lok Sabha MP for Smriti Irani in Amethi.