Lok Sabha Election 2024: A confident Smriti Irani waits for Cong to name rival in Amethi

Union Minister for Women & Child Development and Minority Affairs Smriti Irani

The election season is upon us, with the first phase of the Lok Sabha polling less than a month away. Amethi and Rae Bareli are perhaps among the most watched constituencies as Narendra Modi seeks a rare third straight term.

Once the strongholds of the Gandhi family, Amethi and Rae Bareli seem to be charting a course independent of the Congress first family. The first signs of things to come were visible in 2014 when BJP’s Smriti Irani, fighting her first election, gave a scare to Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.

Five years later, the upstart turned into a giant killer, handing a stunning defeat to Rahul Gandhi, who was then the Congress president. Irani beat Gandhi by 468,514 votes.

Read: Will the unthinkable happen – The Gandhi family shying away from an Amethi-Rae Bareli fight?

Sonia Gandhi, who represented Rae Bareli for 20 straight years from 2004 to 2024, has opted out of the heat and dust of the Lok Sabha election. She is now a member of the Rajya Sabha.

The two constituencies will vote in the fifth phase of polling on May 20.

The Congress, which has tied up with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, is keeping up the suspense and is yet to name Amethi and Rae Bareli candidates.

There is talk that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may take over from her mother but then some reports also claim she is not too keen on an election, not yet.

The BJP has repeated Irani from Amethi who is up for a fight and has said on several occasions that will ensure a repeat of 2019 were Rahul Gandhi to join the fray.

The Congress has fielded Rahul Gandhi from Kerala’s Wayanad, the second constituency he had fought from and won in 2019.

The Amethi Lok Sabha constituency encompasses five assembly constituencies — Salon, Gauriganj, Amethi, Tiloi, and Jagdishpur.

Development pitch

Irani never lets it go of a chance to talk about the “neglect” of Amethi, which has been represented by the Gandhi-Nehru family for the longest time since 1967, and the several development works undertaken by her.

Amethi is now recognised for development, investment, and the AK-203 rifle factory rather than being solely associated with the Gandhi family, the MP has said.

Read more: 'Scared of defeat in Amethi': Smriti Irani takes dig at Rahul, counters 'Shakti' remark

During the Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit in 2023, Amethi attracted over Rs 7,000 crore in investment. In the same year, projects worth over Rs 6,000 crore were inaugurated.

Speaking in Parliament, Irani, who is women and child development minister, said over 40 villages in Amethi constituency received electricity for the first time under the BJP’s “double-engine” government, a reference to the state and the Union government.

On March 6, Irani inaugurated and laid the stone of 281 projects worth Rs 206 crore in her constituency.

A House for Ms Irani

Even after she lost the 2014 election, Irani visited Amethi regularly, nurturing the constituency while driving home the fact that unlike Gandhis her commitment was complete.

Irani has built a home in Amethi’s Mawai village and held a house-warming ceremony on February 22, drawing yet another contrast to Gandhi’s occasional visits and guesthouse stays.

It will be on June 4 that voters will let know if Irani is truly home, until then, all eyes will be on who the Congress fields against the union minister.