Amethi,

20 May (HS): The political climate in Amethi heated up on Wednesday ahead of

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's arrival, with posters attacking local MP Kishori

Lal Sharma appearing around the area. The posters, which were placed at various

locations such as the railway station, major intersections, bus stops,

collectorate premises, and outside Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Munshiganj,

questioned the Congress MP's performance and compared it to that of former

Union Minister and ex-MP Smriti Irani. Gandhi served as the MP for Amethi from

2004 to 2019, when he was defeated by Irani of the BJP. He subsequently shifted

to the Raebareli seat, which he won in the 2024 elections, while Gandhi family

loyalist Sharma made a surprise electoral entrance in 2024 to defeat Irani in Amethi.

On

Wednesday morning, one of the prominent posters said, Do saal Kishori,

tumne laal kya kiya? (Kishori, what have you accomplished in the past two

years?). According to the posters, Sharma has given the people with only one

school bus and one ambulance since becoming MP. The school bus was allegedly

handed to a school affiliated with a Congress leader, while the ambulance was

sent to a hospital owned by a trust associated with him.

Other

posters compared Sharma's two-year term to Smriti Irani's five-year tenure,

claiming she had completed a number of development projects in Amethi

pertaining to roads, healthcare, education, and jobs. The identity of the

poster's creator could not be determined independently.

The

Congress responded to the incident by describing the posters as the outcome of

the BJP's despair and desperation. Anupam Pandey, a Congress leader and member

of the Railway Consumers Advisory Committee, said the BJP was restless in

Amethi, much like a fish out of water. On the other hand, BJP district

president Sudhanshu Shukla stated that the posters reflected the views and

emotions of Amethi residents. He said that the development work done by Irani could

not be completed by the Congress in 70 years. Among the initiatives completed

during Irani's term, Shukla included a medical college, Krishi Vigyan Kendra,

trauma center, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sainik School, fertilizer rake centre, ring

road, bypass building, and road connection projects.

He

claimed that the Congress has always neglected the emotions of the people of

Amethi and dominated solely by obtaining votes rather than focusing on

development. Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, began his

two-day journey to Raebareli and Amethi on Tuesday.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi