Rahul, Smriti to be in Amethi this weekend

Both Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Irani will be in Amethi around the same time this weekend.

Rahul is scheduled to be in Amethi on January 4 and 5, while Irani will be present there on January 4 during which both leaders will separately attend several events.

Though the two leaders have visited the area several times in the last five years, this is the first time they will be in Amethi together at the same time this year.

Rahul will meet the people of his constituency during this time, attend public and party reception events, hold 'corner meetings' and attend a function of newly appointed party spokespersons. He will be travelling to Salon Nagar, Pardeshpur, Naseerabad, Paraiya Namaksar and Gauriganj on January 4 before reaching Amethi in night. On January 5 after spending some time in Amethi, Rahul will travel to Musafirkhana tehsil, Jagdishpur and Tiloyi, where he will meet the family members of late Shiv Pratap Singh, veteran Congress leader who died last week after long illness, before reaching Lucknow to catch a flight back to Delhi.

Irani will be attending a programme organised by Raghav Sewa Sansthan during which blankets and financial assistance will be distributed to poor persons and a foundation stone for a school will be laid.

Rahul, a Member of Parliament from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, had defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate Smriti Irani from this Lok Sabha seat in 2014 elections. Irani is expected to contest from the Amethi seat once again in the 2019 polls for which she has been trying to increase her influence through frequent visits.

However, with the 2019 General Elections round the corner, the two leaders are back to the drawing board once against to rejuvenate their cadres and enthuse their voters.