BJP’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi will take the battle to the Gandhi family’s bastion in Amethi on May 5. Modi will address a rally for party candidate Smriti Irani, who is challenging Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, on the last day of campaigning in the constituency which will go to polls on May 7.
Other senior BJP leaders, including lK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, are also likely to campaign for Irani in the next three days, sources said. Sources said it is the final push to the television actor-turned-politician’s campaign in the high profile seat, where Rahul’s campaign is being steered by his sister Priyanka Gandhi.
Rahul himself will be in Amethi for a couple of days. Priyanka had this week described Smiriti as “an outsider” and alleged she never visited her New Delhi constituency after losing in her first polls. Two-time MP from Amethi, Rahul is locked in a triangular contest from the family pocket borough with Irani and AAP’s Kumar Vishwas.
Though the Congress vice-president had won the seat in 2004 and 2009 elections with huge margins, Congress had lost in three of the five Assembly segments falling under Amethi Parliamentary seat during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2012.