Congress office in Amethi attacked, cars vandalised

The Congress office in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi was attacked and several cars parked outside the office were vandalised on May 5 night. While the police said that they were probing the matter, the Congress blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party for the attack, claiming that some Congress workers also sustained injuries.

A heavy police force along with CO City Mayank Dwivedi reached the spot after the incident and tried to pacify the protesting party workers.

“Smriti Irani and BJP workers are badly scared in Amethi, UP. Frustrated over the defeat they saw, BJP goons armed with sticks and rods reached outside the Congress office in Amethi and vandalised vehicles parked there. There was an attack on Congress workers and the people of Amethi. Many people are badly injured in this attack… This incident shows that the BJP is going to lose badly in Amethi,” the Congress posted in Hindi while sharing a video of the alleged incident.

Ending months of suspense, Congress fielded Gandhi loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma against BJP's MP Smriti Irani from the Amethi constituency. Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, has been fielded from Raebareli, a seat once represented by his mother Sonia Gandhi, is grandmother Indira Gandhi and his grandfather Feroze Gandhi in the past.

Hailing from Ludhiana in Punjab, Sharma, a confidante of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, has been working for the family for more than four decades.

The only time the Congress did not represent Rae Bareli was in the wake of the Emergency in 1977 when Janata Party's Raj Narain defeated Indira Gandhi, who was then the prime minister. And the BJP's Ashoke Singh won in 1996 and 1998.

Sonia Gandhi won from Rae Bareli four times between 2004 and 2019, though her winning margins had begun dwindling now.

Gandhi had lost from the adjoining Amethi constituency to BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019, but won from "safe" Wayanad in Kerala – a seat he is contesting this time as well.

Polling in both parliamentary constituencies is on May 20.

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