After defeating the Congress in neighboring Amethi, the BJP is all set to win assembly constituencies in Rae Bareli – the only Gandhi family stronghold left in Uttar Pradesh. The ruling party appears to have worked out a plan, starting with the removal of Congress MLCs and MLAs.
Rae Bareli was the only Lok Sabha seat won by the Congress in UP in 2019, even as the all-important Amethi constituency fell to the BJP, with Smriti Irani defeating top leader Rahul Gandhi. In the 2017 assembly elections, only two assembly seats, Rae Bareli (Sadar) and Harchandpur, remained loyal to the Congress. He was won by Aditi Singh and Rakesh Singh for the party.
Both the winners from the last time have now switched to the BJP and have been fielded against the Congress from the same seat. Apart from Rae Bareli (Sadar) and Harchandpur seats, there are four assembly constituencies in Rae Bareli – Bachhrawan (reserved), Saraini, Unchahar and Salon (reserved).
Ram Naresh Rawat, Dhirendra Bahadur Singh and Dal Bahadur won in Bachhrawan, Saraini and Saloon respectively for BJP. Uchahar was won by Manoj Kumar Pandey of Samajwadi Party. The Congress and the SP had fought the 2017 assembly elections as allies, but are no longer together.
The Congress claims that whatever development has taken place in this constituency has happened during the UPA government, which the BJP has opposed. Congress spokesperson Vinay Dwivedi claimed that during 2004-2014, the then UPA government had given projects worth over Rs 12,500 crore to Rae Bareli.
He referred to a women’s hospital, AIIMS, five national highways and rail coach factory, saying they provide employment to the local people. In the last seven years, BJP cannot cite any new project here or even in Amethi.” Rakesh Singh is contesting from Harchandpur this time as a BJP candidate. What once had weakened over time with the Gandhi family – and now has a growing relationship.
He dismissed the importance of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra leading the party’s election campaign in Uttar Pradesh. Priyanka is not a factor in Rae Bareli. His presence may be elsewhere but people did not see him coming here, except during election time. The Gandhi family has failed to give development to the area or maintain its emotional bond with the people of the constituency,” Singh said.
He claimed that most of the industries established during Indira Gandhi’s time have closed down, and projects like Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Akademi have not benefited the local youth. “There will be a direct BJP-Samajwadi Party contest on all the seats. Congress’s time is over and it will get only 10,000 to 12,000 votes in each seat, some of them may even lose its deposit.
BJP District President Ram Dev Pal said that his party has been working hard in Rae Bareilly since time immemorial and has made gradual progress in every election. This time it will win all the six seats and there is no doubt about it. Right now we are focusing on the 2022 assembly elections and after that it will be our mission 2024.”
He claimed that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had not come to this area winning last time and people would like to have a representative who has a presence here. Unlike in Amethi, where the party had to bring in a national level leader to win the seat in Smriti Irani, BJP leaders claimed they would not need a big name to challenge Sonia Gandhi in 2024. He had to face a tough fight last time against MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh. Who left his party and joined BJP.
Sonia Gandhi retained her Lok Sabha seat in 2019 by defeating Dinesh Pratap Singh by 1.6 lakh votes, the lowest victory margin in 15 years. In 2014, he won by a margin of 3.5 lakh votes, 3.7 lakh in 2009 and 2.4 lakh in 2004. His victory margin in the 2006 by-election was 4.1 lakh votes.
“Sonia Gandhi is opposed here because she is an outsider and people want a local who will be there for her. If he fights again, Dinesh Pratap Singh will win from here,” said Rakesh Singh, who is the brother of the 2019 winner. The Congress has fielded an SP turncoat Surendra Vikram Singh from Harchandpur against Rakesh Singh. It is yet to be finalized candidate against Aditi Singh from Sadar seat
Polling is to be held on February 23 in the fourth phase of five assembly seats in Rae Bareli. Polling is to be held in Salon on February 27.
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