Smriti Irani announces plan to have permanent residence in Amethi

Union Minister and Member of Parliament from Amethi, Smriti Irani has recently announced that she will be constructing her own house in Amethi, according to media reports. The reports also stated that she has already identified a plot in Gauriganj. This announcement by Smriti Irani is sure to stick in the throat of Rahul Gandhi who lost out to her in the high profile electoral battle this general elections from Amethi. Smriti Irani said that Amethi will now be her permanent residence and now she would be easily accessible to the people.

By this move, Smriti Irani has surely shocked supporters of Rahul Gandhi by doing something that the Congress chief could not do in more than 15 years. Rahul Gandhi has been contesting elections from the constituency since 2004 and has won every time except this general elections, where he had to face an embarrassing defeat in the erstwhile family bastion. However, after representing the constituency for more than a decade and even longer if we consider other members of the Gandhi-Nehru family like Sonia Gandhi who contested from Amethi in 1999, Rahul Gandhi never camped in the constituency permanently and always choose to stay at a guest house during his visit.

Smriti Irani is currently on a two-day visit to the constituency along with Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the duo have been meeting people at the villages adopted by late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. This is Smriti Irani’s first visit to Amethi after the high profile electoral battle.

Smriti Irani also visited the house of slain BJP worker, Surendra Singh who was shot dead after the elections in Amethi. “We are saddened at the death of Singh. He was a devoted party worker and the party stands with his family,” Goa CM Sawant told reporters after meeting the family.

Smriti Irani’s decision to have a permanent residence in the Amethi constituency is sure to aid the electorate in staying connected with the Union Minister contrary to the Gandhi family who was mostly just seen around elections in Amethi. In her visit to the constituency earlier during the election campaign, Smriti Irani had said that she will leave no stone unturned for the development of the area and its people would be given benefits of all state and central government schemes. This step by Smriti Irani to have a permanent residence in Amethi is sure to aid her tenure as compared to Rahul Gandhi who had to face a lot of flak from the electorate over his lacklustre efforts to connect with the people of the constituency.