Sparks fly as BJP, Cong, SP big guns roar in Amethi

Amethi (UP), May 17 (IANS) Just three days before the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls kicks off, Amethi turned into a virtual battleground on Friday with big guns from the BJP, Congress and SP addressing major election rallies in the constituency.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav raised political temperatures in Amethi while campaigning.

In his speech, HM Shah slammed nepotism in the Congress and SP and said that Amethi and Raebareli were not family seats and did not belong to one family.

He termed the Congress and SP as anti-Hindu and said that they spurned the invitation to the opening of the Ram Temple.

He also said that the Modi Government was committed to protecting the boundaries of the country.

“Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir belongs to us and we will take it back,” he promised.

HM Shah asked people to make the lotus bloom in Amethi and Raebareli and the BJP will be ‘400 paar’.

The INDIA bloc rally was jointly addressed by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.

An emotional Rahul Gandhi recalled his 42-year-old association with the constituency and said that he had first come to Amethi with his father, late Rajiv Gandhi, as a 12-year-old.

“Whatever I know of politics, is what I have learnt from Amethi,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi further said, “I belonged to Amethi. I still belong to Amethi and will continue to belong to Amethi. I will ensure that whatever Raebareli gets in future, Amethi will get the same.”

Appealing for votes for Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma, he said that Sharma had been working in Amethi for four decades and people knew him as a simple man.

Rahul Gandhi said that the 2024 elections would decide the future of the people of the country and the Constitution.

On his part, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav said that the coming together of the Congress and SP was like “ek aur ek, gyarah” which would make the BJP go “nau, do, gyarah.”

Akhilesh Yadav reminded farmers about the manner in which they had been treated by the central government during their agitation against the farm laws.

He promised the MSP guarantee that the farmers had been demanding from the Modi Government, if the INDIA bloc formed the government at the Centre.

“The BJP wants to change the Constitution and take away your rights. They are not only against the poor, but also against animals. My farmer friend in Amethi kept an injured crane and nursed it back to health. The government took away that crane,” he said while referring to the incident that had gone viral.

The SP leader promised to reopen all industrial units that had shut down in Amethi.