Amethi: Having remained a Congress bastion for nearly five decades, the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh has turned into a sticky wicket for Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is facing the toughest battle of his political career from here. Poor infrastructure, potholed roads and closed factories depict a telling picture of the constituency, which has elected Rahul Gandhi for three consecutive terms; however, public support for the Congress appears to be decreasing ever since the 2014 elections.
Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Smriti Irani has emerged as a formidable challenger to Gandhi and enjoys substantial support among young voters. Unlike the 2014 elections, when she had barely 20 days to campaign, the BJP leader, this time, has led a sustained public outreach programme in the constituency.
Local BJP workers, as well as many voters, believe that Irani has better poll prospects in 2019 given factors like a strong organisational set up, Congress’ neglect of the constituency for many decades and the presence of a strong BJP government in the state led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The development work carried out by the Central government in Amethi has also raised BJP’s hopes of winning the seat from the Congress. Local BJP leader Govind Singh Chauhan, associated with Irani’s campaign in Amethi, said: “After losing an election, no leader has worked in the way in which Didi (Irani) has worked. Our government has made 1.5 lakh houses under the PM Awas Yojana in Amethi and nearly 1.75 lakh families have benefited from the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Electrification of villages has been completed and thousands of toilets have been made, both in urban and rural parts of Amethi.”
Another BJP worker, hopeful of the BJP’s prospects of winning the Amethi seat, said that since 2014, a lot of emphasis has been given on strengthening the organisational structure in Amethi. “From being almost invisible on the ground, the organisation has been strengthened in the last five years. While Smritiji has been frequently visiting the constituency; party president Amit Shah, too, has been actively overseeing the preparations,” he said.
The Congress’ prospects, on the other hand, is largely dependent on the rural voters and their loyalty towards the Gandhi family for whom they have been voting since the time of Indira Gandhi and later her sons Sanjay and Rajiv. Many villagers told this newspaper that they would elect Rahul Gandhi again as they had been traditionally voting for his family.
They also accused the BJP of stalling the projects of the previous Congress-led government at the Centre. Om Prakash Sharma, a resident of Amethi, said that the BJP halted a food park project initiated by the Congress. He also said that a trauma centre, which was planned for Musafirkhana, a small town in the Amethi constituency, about 20 km from Gauriganj, was later shifted to Jagadishpur, 30 km from the district headquarters, at the instance of Suresh Pasi, the Housing Minister in UP’s BJP government.
A resident of Neelkanthpur village said that whatever roads existed in the villages were built during the Congress rule. He said they voted for the BJP in the Assembly elections, but the BJP disappointed them as hardly any legislator visited their villages since 2017.
In the last Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi defeated Irani by a margin of a little over one lakh votes. However, his victory was far less impressive than in most earlier Lok Sabha elections.
In Amethi, the Congress’ vote share was reduced to 46% in 2014 against its earlier shares of 71% and 66% in the 2009 and 2004 elections, respectively. The BJP, whose vote share in Amethi remained in the single digits in 2004, rose to 37% in 2014.
The seat has long been a stronghold of the Congress, which hasn’t been defeated here in the last three decades, barring in 1998, when BJP’s Sanjay Singh defeated Satish Sharma of the Congress by a margin of 23,270 votes. Amethi was regained by the Congress in 1999 when Sonia Gandhi was elected as MP from here.
In the past, Amethi constituency has been represented by Congress heavyweights like Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
Things have become even more worrisome for the Congress after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2017, when the BJP managed to win four of the five Assembly seats under the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.