Amethi (Uttar Pradesh): A wave of anticipation swept through the crowd in Amethi’s Alipur as their sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and Union minister Smriti Irani made her entrance. Chants of “Smriti ji” filled the air as hundreds of women, voters eager for a glance of their leader, flocked to the rally. Irani, who clinched the Amethi seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, disrupted a longstanding Congress legacy.
The Amethi Lok Sabha seat will go to the polls in phase 5 on 20 May. The BJP has again fielded Irani, while the Congress has picked Kishori Lal Sharma as its candidate. Amethi represents one of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 parliamentary seats, consisting of five Vidhan Sabha segments — Tiloi, Salon, Jagdishpur, Gauriganj, and Amethi.
In her address in Salon Saturday, Irani said, “The rifle factory constructed in Amethi has supplied around 27,000 rifles to the forces on the borders. Amethi should be the Hanuman of Indian democracy and burn the Congress, as Hanuman burnt Ravana’s Lanka”.
She urged the people of Amethi not to vote for the “tukde tukde gang”, and vote for the BJP on 20 May. The Union minister has been holding public meetings in the constituency for the past month — hopping from one village to another and addressing supporters.
Meanwhile, Congress candidate Sharma, a close aide of Sonia Gandhi and the party’s point man in Rae Bareli and Amethi constituencies. Sharma launched his campaign in full swing after the Congress declared his name from the Amethi seat Friday.
In his first public gathering in Salon, he said, “I have worked for 40 years in these constituencies, the youth who are currently working for the Congress, I have worked with their grandparents, I hope that it will help the Congress to win.”
ThePrint’s Suraj Singh Bisht brings you pictures from the public gatherings of both leaders.
