According to a report, Deepak Singh, a member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative council and general secretary from the Indian National Congress challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party to win a single booth from Amethi in 2019 general elections. Amethi is Rahul Gandhi‘s constituency.
Singh’s comments came after BJP party president Amit Shah’s recent statement about his certainty of BJP winning the Congress bastion. Singh also claimed that if BJP could manage to emerge victorious even in one booth in Amethi, he would step down from his MLC post.
According to him, several BJP MPs are contemplating the move to change their constituencies as they don’t feel confident about their chances to secure a victory in their current constituencies. Singh also plans to follow up his challenge to the BJP with a list of lies propagated by the BJP.
BJP has hit back with BJP leader Dinesh Singh stating that Deepak Singh’s challenge was ‘laughable’ and questioning legitimacy of Deepak Singh’s comment as he, according to Dinesh Singh, is at the mercy of the whimsical dictates from the central Congress leadership.
Uttar Pradesh Minister Suresh Pasi responded to Singh by accepting his challenge and then challenging the Congress to save itself from a certain defeat in the upcoming general elections.
If one looks closely, Deepak Singh’s claims may look like a bold claim which is backed by nothing but false bravado. In Sonia Gandhi’s constituency of Rae Bareli, the vote share of BJP went from 4 percent to 21 percent in 2014. The same happened in the constituency in question, Amethi, here the vote share of BJP went from a minuscule 6 percent in 2009 to 34 percent in 2014.
Other than that in 2017 state assembly elections, in four districts of Amethi, the INC lost on all four while The Bharatiya Janata Party managed to win three out of the four districts in Amethi. This is when the INC and SP had gone into an alliance to stop the BJP.
BJP chief Amit Shah has launched mission Rae Bareli in April this year. Hero Bajpai, in-charge of BJP for Rae Bareli stated that Congress is still toiling over Amethi, while BJP is already eyeing the Rae Bareli seat.
