Congress president Rahul Gandhi would file his nomination for the Lok Sabha elections from his family pocket borough — Amethi — on Wednesday. Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani, who lost to Gandhi in Amethi in 2014, would follow suit a day later.
Gandhi’s mother, Sonia Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, will accompany him in a procession to file his nomination. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his cabinet colleagues will join Irani’s show of strength on Thursday.
On April 4, Gandhi filed his papers to run for parliament from Wayanad in Kerala as well.
Congress leader Nadeem Ashraf Jaisi said they will welcome their leaders in Amethi by showering flowers on them. “The party workers are excited about Rahul Gandhi’s nomination.”
BJP leader, Uma Shankar Pandey, said Irani’s roadshow would be twice as big as that of the Congress’s.
Congress leader Deepak Singh said Irani has visited Amethi 15 times since 2014 elections, spent 44 hours there and scrapped 15 schemes meant for the constituency. He tweeted in contrast, Rahul Gandhi has spent 744 hours in his constituency.
“People should analyse the data independently,” he tweeted on March 26.
{{/usCountry}}“People should analyse the data independently,” he tweeted on March 26.
{{/usCountry}}BJP’s Uma Shankar Pandey countered Singh’s claims and said Irani has visited Amethi more than 30 while Gandhi 15 odd times.
According to BJP leaders, Irani will arrive in Amethi on Wednesday for the preparation of her nomination.
The Congress’s nine-day Rahul Sandesh Yatra that covered all five assembly segments under the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency ended on Monday.
The BJP is attempting to woo voters in rural by holding smaller meetings. “The then defence minister Manohar Parrikar adopted two villages in Amethi and did more for them than the local MP [member of Parliament Gandhi] who failed to do justice to the villages of his own constituency. If I become an MP, I will use my MP fund for development of villages,” Irani said.
Congress has countered this saying Gandhi has spent ~26.85 crore in Amethi.