After the Congress highlighted “Dard-e-Banaras” with its roadshow earlier this week in Varanasi, the BJP is now preparing to return the favour and focus on “Dard-e-Amethi” and “Dard-e-Rae Bareli.”
After the Congress highlighted “Dard-e-Banaras” with its roadshow earlier this week in Varanasi, the BJP is now preparing to return the favour and focus on “Dard-e-Amethi” and “Dard-e-Rae Bareli.”
The party will now be holding two major rallies in Amethi and Rae Bareli to focus on the lack of development in these two VIP constituencies that have been Congress bastions since the past several decades.
The rallies are proposed to be held in September in Amethi and Rae Bareli, within a gap of about a fortnight.
The Congress is already running a campaign called ‘“Dard-e-Banaras” on the social media to highlight the non-fulfilment of promises that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made to his voters in 2014. At present, five of the seven Assembly seats in Rae Bareli are held by the Samajwadi Party while the Congress holds one seat and one seat is held by ex-Congress leader and now Peace Party member Akhilesh Singh. In Amethi, the Congress holds only one seat while two others are held by the Samajwadi Party.
According to party sources, the BJP will be targeting Congress for lack of development and the ruling Samajwadi Party for the poor law-and- order situation in the area. “The pain of the people of Amethi and Rae Bareli is much more compared to the pain of people in other constituencies (Varanasi) because they have been supporting one party for decades and yet have not received any benefit. People in Varanasi know that projects take time to get started but they are also aware that things have started moving on the ground”, said a senior party leader.
By targeting Amethi and Rae Bareli, the BJP also wants to consolidate its position on the neighbouring Sultanpur seat, presently held by Mr Varun Gandhi.
“Our aim is to win over Amethi and Rae Bareli and retain Sultanpur so that we can bring development to this area once known as the golden political triangle in Uttar Pradesh. PM Modi will erase the pain of these constituencies and lead them to a new horizon”, the leader added. Meanwhile, party sources said that Union minister Smriti Irani, who has been keeping a low profile after a change in her portfolio, will also continue to visit Amethi from where she had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
