“Congress Accepted Defeat”: Smriti Irani's Reaction On Amethi Seat (image-X/smritiirani)Following Rahul Gandhi’s candidature from Rae Bareli instead of Amethi, BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani claimed that the Congress party has accepted defeat from the Lok Sabha constituency of Amethi.
After intense speculations regarding Congress’ candidates from the Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats, the party has announced that Rahul Gandhi will be contesting from Rae Bareli, while close aid Kishori Lal Sharma has been nominated from the Amethi seat. This is the first time in 25 years that a member of the Gandhi family is not contesting the elections to represent Amethi.
During an interview with the media, Irani said, “No member of the Gandhi family contesting from Amethi in itself is an indication that Congress has accepted its defeat from Amethi even before elections.”
The BJP has nominated incumbent MP Smriti Irani for the Amethi seat. In the 2019 general elections, Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi by a margin of over 55,000 votes.
The Amethi candidate stated that had the party felt they had chances of winning, they would have fielded a candidate from the Gandhi family and not a proxy.
#WATCH | “No member of the Gandhi family contesting from Amethi in itself is an indication that Congress has accepted its defeat from Amethi even before elections, says Amethi MP & Union Minister Smriti Irani.#LokSabhaElection2024 pic.twitter.com/44JllWXcsH
— ANI (@ANI) May 3, 2024
Meanwhile, Congress has fielded Rahul Gandhi for the Rae Bareli seat previously held by Sonia Gandhi. He will be pitted against the BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh.
Earlier, there were strong speculations that Priyanka Gandhi would contest from Rae Bareli, while Rahul would contest from Amethi. Reportedly, Priyanka opted out of the electoral race after concerns about three members of the Gandhi family in Parliament could strengthen PM Modi’s criticism of dynastic politics or parivaarvaad within Congress.