• By Mayukh Debnath
  • Fri, 03 May 2024 02:13 PM (IST)
  • Source:ANI
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Lok Sabha Election 2024: Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday took a swipe at the Congress party after it fielded Rahul Gandhi from his family stronghold of Raebareli instead of the Amethi parliamentary constituency, where she defeated the sitting Wayanad MP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Irani, who is seeking a re-election from Amethi, said that Congress has conceded defeat from the constituency even before a vote was cast, adding that the Opposition party would not have fielded a "proxy candidate" (Kishori Lal Sharma) if they were hopeful about the outcome of the polls.

"I welcome the guests to Amethi. The fact that the Gandhis are not fighting in Amethi shows that even before a vote has been cast, they are losing from Amethi. If they had seen even a glimmer of hope, they would have contested and not put up a proxy candidate," Smriti Irani was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Smriti Irani said that Rahul Gandhi's candidature from Raebareli is a "victory" for the people in Amethi. "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.

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Irani also mentioned a remark made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month wherein he had said that Rahul Gandhi would be fielded from a seat different than Wayanad due to anti-incumbency. "PM Modi had already warned the public that Rahul Gandhi will look for a new seat once voting concludes in Wayanad. Congress leadership is going away from the battlefield," she said.

Besides Rahul Gandhi, PM Modi was also referring to his mother and Congress matriarch Sonia Gandhi, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed from Rajasthan earlier this year. She did not seek re-election from the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat, which she has represented since 2004.

Rahul is pitted against the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh in Raebareli. He currently represents Wayanad in the Lok Sabha, while Smriti Irani is bidding for a fresh term 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 named Kishori Lal Sharma, a party loyalist from Amethi.

ALSO READ: Meet Kishori Lal Sharma, Gandhi Family Loyalist Who Will Face Smriti Irani In 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.

(With inputs from ANI)