Why BJP’s Amethi show fuels buzz
The Amethi belt in Uttar Pradesh, which is considered Gandhis’ bastion, was in the spotlight Wednesday when the ruling BJP held a grand show there for the induction of three rebel Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs into the pary fold.
These MLAs – Rakesh Pratap Singh (Gauriganj), Abhay Singh (Gosaiganj) and Vinod Chaturvedi (Kalpi) – were among the seven SP MLAs, who had cross-voted in the February 2024 Rajya Sabha elections. Of their seats, only Gauriganj is part of the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.
The BJP usually holds such induction programmes at the party office in Lucknow or at its national headquarters in Delhi.
But the party organised the Wednesday programme at Gauriganj, with the Kalpi MLA along with his supporters driving nearly 250 km and the Goshainganj legislator travelling over 100 km to reach the venue in Amethi to join the BJP.
In attendance at the event was BJP national general secretary and ex-Union minister Smriti Irani along with several prominent party leaders including UP BJP chief and Union minister Pankaj Chaudhary, state ministers Dinesh Pratap Singh, Dara Singh Chauhan, Dayashankar Singh, Pratibha Shukla and Krishna Paswan, Bulandshahr MP Bhola Singh, and the party’s OBC morcha national president Amar Pal Maurya. Even ex-Union minister and Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan was present.
Addressing the gathering, Smriti, former Amethi MP, explained the purpose of Balyan’s presence. “You all would be surprised why Sanjeev Balyan of western UP is on the stage here,” she said, adding that as the then Union minister it was Balyan who had ensured the availability of fertilisers in Gauriganj on her request.
She highlighted that 40 villages of Amethi got electricity connection for the first time after Independence during the tenure of the Narendra Modi government.
Smriti’s stint in Amethi
Smriti had first contested from Amethi as a BJP candidate against top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. While she lost that election by 1.08 lakh votes, she gave a tough fight to Rahul. In 2019, she defeated Rahul by around 55,000 votes.
In 2024, Rahul shifted to adjoining Rae Bareli, held by Sonia Gandhi earlier, while the Congress fielded the Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi. Sharma defeated Smriti by 1.67 lakh votes.
There has been speculation in state political circles for some time that the BJP may field Smriti from either Amethi or Rae Bareli in the 2029 parliamentary elections.
In her speech at the Gauriganj event, Smriti said Amethi’s 2024 poll results would be a subject of political debate and study. She claimed that a large number of closed factories in Amethi were reopened after she became its MP in 2019.
She largely targeted Gandhis, questioning if the Congress first family cannot contest the election in Amethi on its own, how could it lead the country.
Addressing the Congress, she said, without naming Rahul, that “You may bring together as many political parties as you want to make your prince an emperor, but the truth about Uttar Pradesh is that since 1989, you have repeatedly lost Assembly elections. Instead of examining the reasons behind this, the Congress is now making allegations against the Election Commission.”
Asserting that Amethi and Rae Bareli are not a “jageer” (estate) of any family, Pankaj Chaudhry highlighted that Smriti visited every village of Amethi and worked for its people. “The development Smriti Irani ji did here in five years, Congress could not do in 60 years,” Chaudhary claimed. “She regarded party workers as family members and is always concerned about them,” he added.
On the BJP’s move to organise the SP MLAs’ joining programme in Amethi, state party spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, “The BJP through this programme has given a message that the party had won the Congress bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli in the past and will do it again in future. We have not left Amethi. This programme is going to have an impact on the Assembly seats of both Kashi and Awadh regions.”
In Gauriganj, Rahul had led by 22,364 votes against Smriti in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. When Smriti defeated Rahul in 2019, she had a lead of 19,973 votes in the segment. In 2024, the Congress’s Kishori Lal led by 33,378 votes against Smriti in Gauriganj.
“Rakesh Pratap was already supporting the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Despite that Congress took a big margin in Gauriganj. What benefit BJP will get in 2027 Assembly polls by the entry of these three MLAs, that is yet to be seen. Wednesday’s programme indicates that Smriti Irani is going to play an important role in upcoming elections. People here remember that she developed infrastructure and provided benefits of welfare schemes to needy people,” said a BJP leader in Amethi.
Another Amethi BJP leader said, “Organising a programme of such a grand scale for joining of three rebel SP MLAs, who were already in touch with BJP for a long time, and the presence of senior leaders including some from western UP, has created a buzz that BJP is planning something significant here.”
Significantly, SP president Akhilesh Yadav had last month started his statewide “PDA Rath Yatra” from Rae Bareli, making a section of ally Congress uneasy. Akhilesh’s yatra is aimed at consolidating the SP’s PDA – Pichhda (backwards), Dalits and Alpsankhyak (minorities) – social coalition ahead of the Assembly polls slated for February 2027.
