All Amethi’s a stage... Priyanka and Smriti have their exits and entrances

Amethi: The gloves are off in Amethi’s ‘Bhaiya versus Didi’ battle. The Gandhi siblings won’t name Smriti Irani but Priyanka is now asking voters what will happen to “the BJP candidate” after she loses again and Rahul becomes the Prime Minister. Not being one to mince words, Irani wants to know what Priyanka has to show as achievement “besides her nose,” and terms Rahul a “laapata saansad” (missing MP).

Irani while campaigning in Brahmani village on Thursday said the Congress was mistaken about Amethi being its gadh (bastion) as the constitiency only has gadde (polholes).

The attack on dynasty politics was triggered by a road show held by Priyanka a day earlier. On Thursday, she shot back, “BJP calls it vanshvaad but it is people’s love for my family.”


On the ground, sentiment is still strong for Rahul.

Congress’ Uttar Pradesh spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh says, “Irani will lose her deposit from Amethi this time.” He said edited videos of Priyanka are a desperate move by the BJP candidate.

Irani has taken the fight to the Gandhi bastion with a pitch for development and Narendra Modi. “Who built two lakh toilets in Amethi? Modi. Who gave 1.5 lakh families here gas cylinders?

Modi. Then whom should your vote go to? Obviously, Modi,” she said. She paints the fight as one between “the poor people of Amethi and the MP missing for the last 15 years.” While the BJP is concentrating on lack of development in Amethi, the Congress has set its sights higher for Rahul. “My brother will prove to be a good Prime Minister. He is a good man,” Priyanka stresses.

The textiles minister is unimpressed. “The Congress is in wonderland in Amethi. Its bubble will burst.”