Battleground Amethi: Besides round-2 of Smriti Irani vs Rahul Gandhi, now a Congress loyalist's son to also contest Lok Sabha election for key seat

While the compelling Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh has found itself under the spotlight with a second-time competition between two representative-Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani, the political drama has only escalated after the Congress president faces another challenge from the son of a local Congress loyalist. 

Haji Mohammad Haroon Rashid, a Congress loyalist for generations has decided to dump Rahul Gandhi and contend in Opposition. 

This political development comes as a shocker as, the contender's father, Mohammad Sultan was among the proposers when former chief minister Rajiv Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi filed their nominations from the traditional Gandhi bastion.

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Apart from a loyalist turning into a competitor, Union Minister Smriti Irani about the keenly watched fight between two heavyweights from the national parties to Republic TV about who will win the polls in Amethi.

She said, "Since the last five years we have been working for the development of the people. In the Vidhan Sabha polls, 4 out of 5 seats were won by BJP because the people were impacted by our work and even the fifth seat was not won by Congress. The defeat of Congress is certain." 

Irani also spoke about campaigning for the seat and cited that she has put in work in the constituency despite facing loss.

"I have worked for Amethi despite losing, PM Modi had said that we had worked for those who had voted for us and those who did not, so our campaign had started long ago," she said.

Here are some of the key candidates from UP

• Narendra Modi will contest from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh
• Rajnath Singh will contest from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh
• Smriti Irani will contest from Amethi  in Uttar Pradesh
• Dr Satyapal Singh will contest from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh
• Dr Mahesh Sharma will contest from Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh
• Sakshi Maharaj will contest from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh
• Santosh Kumar Gangwar will contest from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh
• Hema Malini will contest from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh
   

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