AMETHI: As the battle for Amethi draws to a close, MP Rahul Gandhi may be in for some tense moments. Rahul’s victory in the general elections of 2009 was a convincing one; he polled 4.64 lakh votes, winning by a margin of 3.70 lakh votes. Of the 15 candidates who contested against him, each one, even BSP’s Asheesh Shukla, who came a distant second, had their deposits forfeited.
With BJP’s Smriti Irani and AAP’s Kumar Vishwas challenging the grand old party in the Gandhi bastion, it’s unlikely that Rahul will have another cakewalk this year. In fact, with Rahul being projected as the party’s next leader, it will also be a loss of face if his victory margin slips.
The first dent to Rahul’s campaign came in March, when Vishwas arrived in Amethi and reached out to remote villages that none from the Gandhi familiy had visited before. The impact was almost immediate. The Nehru-Gandhi surname may have been synonymous with Amethi, but they were faces the constituents still did not recognize. In Birganj, Motiya, a farm hand, said, “We know Rahul Gandhi is our MP. Though his representatives have visited, we have never seen him visit.”
The impact of Vishwas’s campaign has been felt most keenly among the poorest of the lot, both Dalits and Muslims, where residents still have no access to roads, drinking water and electricity. Of Amethi’s 16.28 lakh voters, nearly 6 lakh voters belong to the minority community. The AAP campaign in Amethi has fractured this vote bank. “So far, the Congress candidate was the only one that stood a chance. This time, for those who want to support a secular party have the choice of voting AAP,” said Mohd Irfan, a cloth merchant in Jagdishpur.
The Congress camp realises that the 30% Muslim vote is crucial to its chances of posting a big victory. To fortify Amethi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, camping in the twin parliamentary constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli since late April, has had a series of meetings with Muslim clerics, including leaders of the All India Ulama and Mashaik Board (AIUMB).
The bigger hit to the Congress campaign, though, has been as a result of BJP vice president Smriti Irani’s entry into Amethi. Irani’s late entry notwithstanding, it has shaken Congress up. In a constituency where BJP flags were conspicuous by their absence, overnight, the party has become a talking point among the voters. Party insiders say the RSS had swung into action long before the party formally announced Irani’s candidature, with the workers being promised a strong candidate against Rahul Gandhi. Already, Irani’s team has spread out across blocks, going door-to-door, conducting “awareness campaigns” against the Gandhis. Breaching all political courtesies, on May 5, BJP will round up its Amethi campaign with a grand rally by its PM nominee Narendra Modi.
To fortify Amethi, though, Congress – with Priyanka Gandhi leading the charge in Amethi — is also burning the midnight oil. The Gandhi family’s election offices – both Priyanka’s and Rahul’s – have moved base, working around the clock to strengthen Rahul’s chances. The practically defunct student wing – NSUI – has also sprung to life ahead of the May 7 polls. District unit coordinator of NSUI, Pervez Khan, said, “We’ve put together a group of nearly 1,000 NSUI and Youth Congress volunteers — double the number in any other district – to help with Rahu Gandhi’s campaign. These youth volunteers are responsible for bringing out bike rallies and going to every house in every village to garner support for Congress.”
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