Gandhis skipping Amethi in Lok Sabha polls shows Congress has accepted defeat: Smriti Irani

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who lost the election from Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, was named from Rae Bareli – his mother’s seat.

The BJP has once again fielded Smriti Irani from Amethi for the 2024 Lok Sabha. (X)

Taking potshots at the Congress, Union minister and sitting MP from Amethi Smriti Irani Friday said the Gandhis’ absence from the electoral fray in the Lok Sabha seat indicates that the party has accepted defeat even before polling.

Her remarks came after Congress loyalist K L Sharma filed his nomination from the Amethi. For the first time after 1999, the seat will be represented by a non-Gandhi family member from the Congress as Sharma was announced as their candidate early on Thursday.

“Gandhi family not being present in the election fray in Amethi indicates that Congress party has accepted its defeat in Amethi even before the polling on the seat,” Irani was quoted as saying by PTI.

“Had they felt there was any chance of victory on the seat, they would have contested from here and not fielded their proxy,” the BJP leader said, referring to the Gandhi family. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who lost the election from Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, was named from Rae Bareli – his mother’s seat.

The BJP has once again fielded Irani from Amethi for the ongoing elections. She asserted she will win the constituency again when it goes to polls on May 20.

Speaking in Amethi, Irani also took a swipe at Rahul and said: “The one who was not accepted by Amethi and fled to Wayanad will never fully belong to Rae Bareli.” “Also the question is: he, in Wayanad, said it is his family. Now what will he say in Rae Bareli today?” she asked.

Also read | ‘Rae Bareli discussions started much earlier, he hid it till Kerala polling ended’: Rahul’s Wayanad opponent Annie Raja

“The PM had already predicted that after polling in Wayanad, Rahulji will look for a new seat and you are seeing it happen today,” Irani said about Rahul Gandhi, who has been a three-time MP from the seat.

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Since its inception, the Amethi Lok Sabha seat has been a stronghold of Congress and the Gandhi family, as Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have all entered the Lok Sabha from this seat. In the 2019 general elections, Rahul’s streak was broken by Irani, who defeated him by a margin of more than 55,000 votes and was hailed as a “giant killer.”

Rahul Gandhi was Congress’s candidate from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, where he is also the sitting MP. Voting was held in Wayanad on April 26, in the second phase of the ongoing general election.