BJP says Rahul ''fled'' from Amethi fearing defeat

BJP on Sunday sought to make political capital out of Congress president Rahul Gandhi choosing to contest from a second seat in Wayanad, Kerala. The party said that Rahul knew he would lose Amethi and therefore ''fled'' from there.

''Fear of loss forced Rahul to flee from Amethi,'' BJP president Amit Shah said, while addressing an election rally at Bijnore, about 450 kms from here.

Shah said that the people of Amethi would have ''cornered'' Rahul over his alleged failure to ensure development of his LS constituency during the Congress regime.

UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that Rahul had "conceded'' defeat in Amethi.

''We have been saying that BJP will win Amethi and Raebareli (Sonia Gandhi's LS seat) this time....we have been proved right,'' Maurya said.

UP minister Mohsin Raza said that by deciding to contest from another LS seat, Rahul had only ''ensured'' that he would be ''defeated'' in Amethi.

BJP has been trying to make foray into the Nehru-Gandhi fortress of Amethi ever since it won the 2014 LS polls. The then BJP nominee and union minister Smriti Irani had given a tough fight to Rahul and the latter's victory margin declined sharply to one lakh from around three lakh in the 2009 LS polls.

Smriti has been visiting Amethi at regular intervals since then. She had distributed sarees among the women in the constituency, besides taking hundreds of people to the Kumbh at Prayagraj, which concluded recently.

Congress leaders say that Rahul's decision to contest from Wayanad will only ''motivate'' the local workers and the electorate of Amethi to ensure that he wins by a ''huge'' margin this time, so that he may be persuaded to keep Amethi and resign from Wayanad.