Eye on 2024 polls, BJP steps up Amethi connect in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW From stopping at roadside tea stalls to having ‘chai-samosa’ with people or walking in the rain to meet villagers of a constituency, who had until 2019 been hardcore Congress supporters, Union minister Smriti Irani has been assiduously engaging with people of her high-profile constituency. She is expected to recontest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Amethi.

As the polls draw closer, the frequency of Smriti’s visits to the constituency has increased. She was in Amethi on Thursday afternoon, barely a week since her previous visit on July 1 when she braved the rain to lend an ear to people.

Between June and August, she has visited her constituency for about 50 days, traversing the remotest parts of it with her Amethi Vikas Yatra.

The campaign is aimed at showcasing how things have changed in Amethi since 2019, when Smriti riding the Modi wave, defeated the then Congress chief Rahul Gandhi – overall only the third time that the Congress lost its fort.

As a spirited Smriti looks set to recontest from here, the Amethi Vikas Yatra, which has vehicles with ‘Amethi ke Modi’ slogan on them along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face, reflect the ruling party’s desire to reinforce Modi’s appeal among people of this constituency, where BJP is looking to cement its 2019 gains.

“We are winning Amethi big time. We are confident of all 80 Lok Sabha seats and that includes Rae Bareli too,” said deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

The Congress still appears uncertain on its Amethi plan, mostly because top leader Rahul Gandhi is awaiting Gujarat HC’s verdict on his appeal challenging his disqualification as an MP following his conviction by an MP/MLA court. Until his 2019 loss, Rahul had won Amethi thrice since 2004.

Despite losing Amethi, Rahul had won the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala in 2019, but the conviction over an election speech made in Karnataka, unless lifted by a higher court, means that Gandhi would not be able to contest the 2024 LS polls.

“We aren’t bothered about who is doing what. The Congress’ association with the constituency isn’t just political, it is familial. Surely, the Congress will contest and win this time. Let us wait for the court decision, why jump the gun,” said former Congress lawmaker Akhilesh Pratap Singh.

But the BJP is already pushing hard to expand its growing appeal here.

As part of this, it is also sending out a 28-page booklet titled ‘Amethi ke Modi’ to influential people of the constituency, which lists out in detail the works initiated by the BJP since 2019.

Backed by Modi’s charismatic connect with the masses, Smriti is firming up her association here through regular visits, during which she is referred to as ‘didi (elder sister)’ in contrast to the ‘bhaiya (brother)’ reference used here for Rahul Gandhi, who since his 2019 loss here, has visited Amethi thrice.

To convey that she had been an accessible people’s representative, Smriti has been meeting people and announcing big-ticket projects here. She had launched the ‘Didi Aapke Dwaar’ (‘didi at your doorstep’) campaign in 2020.

Of the five assembly constituencies, BJP has three while the Samajwadi Party (which has bared its intention of contesting from here this time unlike in the past when it mostly supported the Congress in Lok Sabha polls here), holds two.

Since 2017, the Congress has not been able to win an assembly seat in Amethi, quite in contrast to the situation in 2012, when the BJP neither had an MP nor any MLA from here.