Amit Shah to address rally in Rae Bareli on Apr 21

Taking his party's fight against the Congress to the Gandhi family's home turf, BJP president Amit Shah will attend several programmes and address a rally in Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli on April 21, a senior party leader said today.

Though Shah will be in Rae Bareli, party workers from neighbouring areas, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi's constituency Amethi, will be attending the programmes, the leader said.

Shah, who is scheduled to address a big political rally, will also hold meetings with party workers to review the BJP's preparedness for the 2019 general elections, a senior party leader said on condition of anonymity.

Though it swept Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 general elections, the BJP lost both Rae Bareli and Amethi to the Congress.

The party, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, has been making a determined bid to wrest Amethi from Rahul Gandhi.

It pitted Union minister Smriti Irani against the Gandhi scion in Amethi in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Irani, who has been regularly visiting Amethi and has taken various developmental initiatives there, is likely to be the party's candidate from the constituency in the next general elections.