Rahul vs Smriti again in Amethi

The Nehru-Gandhi bastion of Amethi is likely to once again witness a contest between Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the sitting MP from there, and union minister Smriti Irani in 2019.
 
BJP leadership, including the party national president Amit Shah on Tuesday dropped enough indication that Irani, who had lost the 2014 polls from Amethi by around one lakh votes to Rahul, would be the party nominee from Amethi in the next LS elections.
 
''Smriti Irani, despite losing from here, kept visiting the constituency regularly while Rahul Baba, despite winning, seldom visits the place,'' Shah said while addressing a public meeting here on Tuesday.
 
UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who was also present, showered praise on Smriti for what he termed her ''desire'' to develop the constituency.
 
UP BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey said that Smriti Irani had taken several initiatives for the development of Amethi while Rahul Gandhi had ignored the aspirations of the people of the constituency.
 
Senior BJP leader and party MLA Dal Bahadur Kori however declared that Smriti would be the BJP nominee from here.
 
Irani on her part, however, chose not to say anything on her candidature though she called herself the 'didi' (sister) of Amethi and vowed never to ''desert'' the electorate.
 
She sought to corner Rahul saying that the Congress leader had only used the people here as a ''vote bank'' and never bothered about their progress.
 
Amethi had witnessed a bitter electoral battle between Rahul and Smriti Irani in 2014 LS polls. Though Rahul emerged victorious, his victory margin was reduced substantially.