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BJP men raise 'Smriti Irani for UP CM' clamour at Amethi

Smriti Irani, who lost the Lok Sabha election in Amethi to Rahul Gandhi, was in Amethi on Tuesday. She addressed a string of well-attended meetings in this VIP constituency, which has been a Congress bastion since 1966 and a pocket borough of the Nehru-Gandhi family since 1980.

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Smriti Irani meets villagers at a meeting in Amethi on Tuesday
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In a rather extempore development which promises to send out long-term ripples in UP's politics, BJP men in the politically volatile Amethi on Tuesday raised a strong demand to project Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani as the chief ministerial candidate for the state assembly elections due in 2017.

Smriti Irani, who lost the Lok Sabha election in Amethi to Rahul Gandhi, was in Amethi on Tuesday. She addressed a string of well-attended meetings in this VIP constituency, which has been a Congress bastion since 1966 and a pocket borough of the Nehru-Gandhi family since 1980.

Besides highlighting the Modi government's achievements during its first year in her rallies, Irani took severe digs at Rahul, charging him with neglecting the interests and welfare of the people of this constituency, which he has represented thrice in a row since 2004.

The Smriti-for-CM clamour came up at the public rally in Amethi even before the HRD minister had arrived. The Rae Bareli BJP president, Ajay Tripathi, was the first to voice the demand from the stage, to which the local BJP workers reacted by raising slogans of "Hamara mukhya mantra kaisa ho, Smriti Irani jaisa ho."

Even after Irani took the stage, she was pleasantly surprised by the new slogan, which kept echoing from time to time. Former state minister and prominent local BJP leader Dal Bahadur Kori once again voiced the demand, echoing the party workers' sentiment, before Irani who only reacted with a benign smile.

Irani devoted all her energies to rail at Rahul for not measuring up to his constituents. "In the last 10 years, he has only made promises, but delivered nothing," she asserted. She pointed out that she had got a whole train-load of urea delivered at Amethi on Monday itself, a demand, she said, the Amethi farmers had been making for the past 10 years.

She also slammed Rahul for not ensuring rail connectivity between Unchahar and Rae Bareli. "Rail tracks were laid on this section. But train operations were not started in 10 years of Congress rule," she said, adding that the Modi government had done it within one year.

Irani seems to be already preparing for the next round of Lok Sabha election against Rahul. On Tuesday, she donated money from her salary for the insurance of 5,000 farmers under the new Rs- 330-per-annum PM Insurance Scheme. She also promised to pay the premium for as many as 25,000 lady "anganbadi" workers before Diwali.

Taking a jibe at Rahul, she said: "He has been ranting about the food park in Amethi being cancelled. But he has no time to meet the farmers who have been ravaged by sudden changes in weather." She also criticized him for meeting farmers in Maharashtra and Punjab but not listening to the problems of the farmers in his own constituency.

"The Gandhi family has been making a fool of the people of Amethi for decades," she remarked.

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