Amethi: The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Smriti Irani contested against the Indian National Congress candidate Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and is currently trailing in the Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi constituency in the 2024 election with a margin of 1,20,461 votes. Courage, who unexpectedly defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019, will face a great difficulty in this former Congress state. Irani began her journey from Amethi and achieved a groundbreaking victory in 2019 by defeating Rahul Gandhi, who belonged to the Gandhi family and served as the Congress president at that time. In that election, She got a poll percentage of 49% for the post of vice-Chancellor.
Smriti Irani never left Amethi despite her defeat in 2014, instead, she would often visit the constituencies and establishments around it addressing the inhabitants. She ensured she constructed a new home in Mawai village of which she had a house warming ceremony on 22nd February this year. Such a constant interaction with the constituency signifies that she has not dormant in the process of striving for recognising the residents of Amethi.
Despite her political loss in the year 2014, Kanthi Suresh known politically as Smriti Irani did not retire from the politics. Included in the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he assigned her responsible post of human resource development minister. After this, she was transferred to the textiles ministry, which also shows how multi talented and valuable she is within the BJP structures.
As per the interview given to a news agency, Irani further stated that Rahul Gandhi who has been a MP from Amethi for three consecutive terms between 2004 and 2019 is not contesting the current elections from the constituency because he did not see the light of getting through a tough contest. This statement sums up the political tussle for the constituency which, has shifted from being a stronghold of the Congress party to a highly contested region.
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