The Congress appears to have borrowed a leaf from the book of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been making forays into the Gandhi family bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and setting up a visit by party president Rahul Gandhi to Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency.

Gandhi, who represents Amethi in the lower house, is likely to visit Varanasi in February to espouse the cause of farmers, said senior Congress leader and former Varanasi MP Rajesh Mishra.

“Yes, Congress president Rahul Gandhi proposes to visit Varanasi in mid-February 2019. Rahul Gandhi has been focusing on the cause of farmers and he will do so in Varanasi as well next month. The Congress is expected to launch a Kisan Yatra soon and Rahul Gandhi will be part of same in Varanasi,” Mishra said.

In December, Modi visited Rae Bareli, the constituency of Rahul Gandhi’s mother, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi. After BJP chief Amit Shah’s announcement on April 21, 2018 at a rally in Rae Bareli to end ‘parivarvaad’ (dynastic rule) and usher in ‘vikasvaad’ (development) in Rae Bareli, finance minister Arun Jaitley decided to spend his MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds in the constituency. Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Varanasi follows Congress victories in the state elections in the Hindi heartland states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The Congress ousted BJP governments in the three states, fighting the elections on the plank of improving the lot of farmers confronting agrarian distress and promising agricultural loan waivers.

Rahul Gandhi, Smriti Irani to cross paths in Amethi today

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani are all set to take the political hotbed of Amethi by storm with both the leaders going there on Friday, reported PTI.

The duo had contested the last Lok Sabha elections from there, a contest won by the Congress chief, and are likely to lock horns once again in the upcoming general election.

While Rahul will be in Amethi on January 4 and 5, Irani, a vocal critic of the Gandhi scion, will begin her daylong visit to the Gandhi bastion on Friday.

The Congress chief will meet the people of his constituency, attend public and party reception, hold ‘corner meetings’ in Salon and visit Pareshdepur, Naseerabad, Paraiya Namaksar and Gauriganj areas on Friday. He will also take part in the oath-taking ceremony of the Gauriganj Zila Adhivakta Sangh and inaugurate Adhivakta Bhawan.

First Published: Jan 04, 2019 07:33 IST