On thanksgiving visit to Amethi Smriti Irani says: ‘I will work for all’

india

Updated: Jun 24, 2019 12:12 IST

About a month after she defeated Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Union minister Smriti Irani arrived on a ‘thanksgiving’ visit to her new Lok Sabha constituency Amethi. She used her two-day visit to her constituency as an opportunity to tell the people that she intends to keep the promises made to them ahead of elections.

“I have identified a piece of land in Gauriganj where I intend to build a house and stay, so that the people here don’t have to run to Delhi to meet their MP as was the case earlier. I am thankful to you for electing a woman from a simple family over a ‘naamdaar’ (biggie),” she said in a veiled jibe at former Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi.

“Anyone can meet me anytime,” she said even as UP’s deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who flew down specially to showcase the Yogi Adityanath government’s resolve to keep Amethi a “high priority constituency”, announced or unveilevd 62 road projects worth Rs 30 crore for Amethi.

“She had made several promises for which she has been elected. Now, it’s her test. If she performs well, she would get another chance,” said Mohd Ismail, a local tailor in Tiloi who had turned up to listen to his new MP.

On her part, Smriti said she would work for those who voted for her as well as for “nearly 4 lakh” of those voters who voted for the Congress.

“I am aware that nearly 4 lakh people voted for the Congress but I must assure you that in keeping with our PM’s motto of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ and ‘sabka vishwas,’ I will work for all,” she said.

She also visited Baraulia village to meet family members of former village head Surendra Pratap Singh, who was killed two days after her win.

In Baraulia, she was joined by Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant, who had come all the way due to the emotional bond that his predecessor late Manohar Parrikar shared with the village as a Rajya Sabha MP.

Smriti said eight ambulances had been made available for the region and announced that she would hold monthly review of development work.

On the occasion, the Amethi administration gave 2302 people free medical cover under Ayushman Bharat.

Another 2117 beneficiaries were identified for a house under PM Awaas Yojana with Smriti symbolically handing over keys to some of them from the stage.

“I want to tell the people here that all the complaints and requests for work that I have received would be forwarded to the DM and SP by tomorrow and they will have to resolve the complaints in seven days,” she said.

After running from pillar to post for justice, a local woman on Saturday fell at the feet of Irani alleging land grabbing by her family members.

Irani assured the woman that action would be taken against anyone at fault.

Before concluding her first planned trip to her constituency on Sunday, Irani said she would visit Amethi practically every month and wanted to make Amethi the most digitally-empowered districts of the country.

Irani met officials to discuss development projects in Amethi, distributed laptops to lekhpals at the Gauriganj collectorate and offered that she could organise e-training programme for all lekhpals of the district.

“I aspire to make Amethi the most digitally-empowered and aware district of the country,” Irani said.