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Updated: Apr 29, 2020 14:57 IST

The Congress bastion of Amethi is caught between loyalty and the emerging ground reality.

It has begun warming up to the BJP, which kept its association with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha constituency alive through union minister Smriti Irani despite her loss here in 2014.

The BJP claims that despite losing she has visited Amethi more than Rahul Gandhi, a point which the Congress counters.

The BJP has coined the slogan ‘abki baar, Amethi hamaar (Amethi is ours this time), while the Congress has sought to counter it with “abki baar Smriti Irani ki teesri haar, Rahulji ki jeet ka antar 5 lakh ke paar (Smriti set for her third loss as Rahul ji’s victory margin set to cross 5 lakh).”

But there is no mistaking the fact that ‘didi’, as Smriti is referred to here, has managed to create a space for the BJP in a region where the Congress has lost just twice – the post-Emergency election of 1977 and in 1998 when Captain Satish Sharma was defeated.

“Muqabala kathin hai (it’s a tough contest),” says Rama, a villager in Salon, summing up the general sentiment.

Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Wayanad in Kerala, along with Amethi, is the latest talking point here. The BJP is trying to market it as the Congress’s admission that it’s unsure of Amethi now.

Satish Tiwari, 35, resident of Saraibhagmani village in Gauriganj, has always voted for the Congress but says he may opt for Smriti Irani this time.

“I am hurt. Rahulji’s decision to opt for Wayanad is an insult to Amethi. We have always treated the Gandhis as family and they too have given us a similar impression. But, Wayanad makes it obvious that they are exploring options,” he says.

Through ‘the Rahul Sandesh Yatra’, the Congress has tried to counter the growing BJP-fuelled perception of Rahul feeling the heat of a relentless campaign that started in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Rahul’s victory margin shrunk from 3.7 lakh votes in 2009 LS polls to 1.07 lakh votes in the 2014 Modi wave.

Ever since, Smriti Irani has kept returning to Amethi with VIPs promises and projects, as the BJP has pushed hard to dislodge the Congress by engineering defections.

For instance, Mohd Muslim, a former Congress MLA from Tiloi, who had been accusing the BJP of scrapping key projects in Amethi, surprised everyone by joining the BJP a few days back. Several locally influential leaders like former BSP lawmaker Vijay Shankar Tiwari too have joined the BJP.

Also Read | Lok Sabha elections 2019: Why is BJP strident on Amethi but soft on Rae Bareli?

Despite defections, it’s not uncommon to run into die-hard Congress supporters like Sunderlal Tiwari, 75, who says emphatically while the victory margin of Rahul Gandhi is debatable, his fate isn’t.

“The emotional bonds are far too strong here to crumble. How can I forget that even as Prime Minister, Rajiv ji would visit us like a common man. He was family to us and after him, his family is ours. We have 32 votes in our family and all of them will vote for Rahul ji,” says Sunderlal Tiwari.

“I think if Rahul ji wins from both Wayanad and Amethi, he could leave Amethi for Priyanka,” says Sunderlal Tiwari with a smile, adding the emotional bond the Congress shares with Amethi will continue.

“In 1999 too, when the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi contested both from Amethi and Bellary, the BJP had tried to market it as an admission of defeat,” recalls Parmanand Mishra, an old Congress hand in Gauriganj.

Sanjay Singh, the gram pradhan of Saraikhema village and a Congress supporter till the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, says he will vote for the BJP now.

“In the last five years, I have seen how India has shown fresh resolve in taking on Pakistan. And yes, Rahul’s decision to contest from Wayanad too has given the impression that Congress is feeling jittery,” he says.

“You can write it down. The Congress is losing Amethi,” says UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath who has repeatedly engaged in clever posturing by saying the BJP will add Amethi and Azamgarh (from where SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is contesting) to its 2014 tally of 71 seats from UP. Two seats were won by Apna Dal, BJP’s ally, which meant barring seven LS seats from UP, BJP and ally won all.

Sheetla Mishra, the Amethi Press Club president, feels Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Wayanad could well be strategic.

“There is a sense that the decision to contest from a second seat might pit the two constituencies in competition with both trying to ensure that they help Congress chief win with a bigger margin,” he says.

Congress MLC Deepak Singh agrees. “Yes, this time Rahulji will win with an even bigger margin,” he says.

“Wait and watch. May 23 would answer all,” says UP minister Mohsin Raza, who is also Amethi’s in-charge. But Parmanand Mishra says unlike the BJP, which is on a “marketing overdrive”, the Congress failed to market its achievements. The BJP has already got PM Modi to visit Amethi once with projects worth several crores for the Congress bastion. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath is set to hold several rallies here while Smriti Irani has fired the latest ‘Missing MP’ salvo at Gandhi.

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