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Smriti in Rae Bareli, BJP eyes clean sweep in Cong bastion
Having won 6 of 10 assembly segments of Amethi and Rae Bareli in 2017 polls, party looks to tighten grip on the region, say BJP leaders
LUCKNOW To build on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) growing political heft in regions considered to be Congress bastions, union minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday visited Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Smriti, who replaced Sonia Gandhi as the chairperson of Rae Bareli’s District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) in July, arrived in Munri village and spent time with girl students of a local school before attending a public function to announce the launch of several government schemes.
She had defeated the then Congress chief Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in 2019 Lok Sabha elections – only the third Congress defeat from here. Since then, the BJP has been expanding its hold on the region, winning the recent zila panchayat chairpersons’ polls for the first time.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had fielded former Sonia loyalist Dinesh Singh against her from Rae Bareli. Though Singh lost, he subsequently played a part in the Congress defeat in the election for zila panchayat chairpersons’ post.
Munri village is part of the Salon region that traverses between Amethi and Rae Bareli – part of Amethi Lok Sabha (which falls in Rae Bareli district and where she said BJP has kept promises made to the people).
“I had made promises to the people here and today I can say that I have fulfilled them,” Smriti Irani said pitching herself and the BJP as ones that honour commitments.
Smriti also took a veiled swipe at the Congress chief. “The district is one, but has two MPs. If one asks whether your MP is seen in this region, people go quiet. Which colony has got a proper road built in front of their house and people go quiet. On the other hand, Salon residents can proudly state that their ‘didi’ can give a detailed breakup of development initiatives and is regularly involved in people’s good and bad times,” she said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi too had visited Rae Bareli recently and Smriti’s visit is being seen as an attempt by the BJP to symbolically indicate the ruling party’s interest in this Congress citadel.
“Having firmed up its grip on Amethi, the BJP is now looking to Rae Bareli.
But before the 2024 LS polls, the BJP would like to test its growing presence in Rae Bareli from where it won two seats in 2017 UP polls, as many as the Congress. With both Congress lawmakers having turned rebels since, the BJP is looking to scale up its political presence,” said Irshad Ilmi, a political veteran.
The BJP leaders admitted that having won 6 of the 10 assembly segments of Amethi and Rae Bareli in 2017 UP polls, the party is looking towards a clean sweep.
“Of course, we will sweep the region but we aren’t focusing on any one particular belt. People are connecting with us everywhere due to pro-poor policies launched by the Modi and Yogi governments,” said Vijay Bahadur Pathak, vice president, UP BJP.
The 2022 UP polls are expected to be announced by December-end or January and on the ruling party’s nudge, Smriti Irani has stepped up her presence in the region, visiting Rae Bareli on one pretext or the other.
In October 2020, she had reviewed development projects in Amethi from Salon and was back here in December, laying foundation stones for various development works, baring political intent to wrest Rae Bareli in 2024, followed by a visit to Hajipur village to hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio talk show ‘Mann Ki Baat’.
Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya also said, “Rae Bareli never witnessed the kind of development it is witnessing now. Just as despite losing Amethi in 2014 LS polls, the BJP continued its association with the constituency, we have not forgotten Rae Bareli just because we didn’t win here. Unlike the Congress, which failed to do anything for even those regions from where its leaders had been getting elected for decades, the BJP is developing all constituencies.”
The Congress, however, dismissed Smriti’s visit.
“She is a political tourist. Our leadership has a familial relationship with the area but there are some outsiders who have been polluting the atmosphere. However, the people won’t let them succeed,” said Congress leader Zeeshan Haidar.
