Lucknow: With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election around the corner, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived in his former bastion Amethi on Saturday. This is Rahul Gandhi's first visit to Amethi in 2.5 years after losing the Lok Sabha election from the seat in 2019.
Rahul Gandhi, along with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and state Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, lead a 6 km-long padyatra (foot march) from Ramlila ground in Jagdishpur to Harimau. Around 50,000 Congress workers are expected to arrive for the padyatra.
While speaking at his old bastion, he said, "I came into politics in 2004. Amethi was the city where I contested my first election. People of Amethi have taught me a lot about politics. You have shown me the way to politics and I want to thank each and everyone from Amethi".
Rahul Gandhi, who represented Amethi for 15 years, lost to BJP's Smriti Irani by 55,120 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Before Rahul Gandhi's defeat, the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency was considered to be the stronghold of the Gandhi family.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.
