Lok Sabha Election: Smriti Irani to take on Rahul Gandhi from Amethi

Lucknow, March 21: Smriti Irani will take on Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi constituency for the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP announced as it released its first list of candidates. This will be Irani's second attempt to wrest the seat from Congress.

In the 2014 polls, Rahul Gandhi had defeated Irani in Amethi seat by a margin of 1.07 lakh votes.

A Congress bastion for decades, the listing squarely sets Smriti Irani up for a second fight with party chief Rahul Gandhi.

Earlier, Irani had accused the Congress president of not speaking up for the people of Amethi in Lok Sabha.

"For the last five years, he has only uttered foul language against the Prime worker (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) of the country," Irani said in Amethi.

Soon after the BJP list was declared on Thursday evening, Irani posted a series of tweets. She congratulated all the candidates, urging them to work together to ensure party's success in the elections.

Irani also thanked PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for 'giving her the responsibility of fighting from Amethi'.

The BJP declared the names of 184 candidates in its first list of candidates for 2019 Lok Sabha elections including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will contest from Varanasi and party president Amit Shah who has been fielded from the Gandhinagar constituency.