Smriti Irani in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi cancels own visit to his Lok Sabha constituency

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has cancelled his heavily-anticipated visit to Amethi which was scheduled for Friday. He was initially set to arrive in Lucknow at about 10:00 am and proceed to his Lok Sabha constituency, remaining there till Saturday. 

In Amethi, Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to interact with the constituents, attend a public and party reception, hold 'corner meetings' and also attend the oath-taking ceremony of Gauriganj Zila Adhivakta Sangh and inaugurate the Adhivakta Bhawan. It remains to be seen if he will travel to Amethi to keep up his appointments scheduled for Saturday.

The Congress president partook in a fierce debate in Parliament on Friday, having his questions on the Rafale debate answered by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and being asked some pointed questions in return as well.

Also at Rahul Gandhi's constituency at the time of publishing is union minister Smriti Irani who had contested against the Lok Sabha elections from there in 2014. Irani has regularly visited Amethi in the intervening years, as the BJP came to power at the Centre and subsequently, the state of Uttar Pradesh. 

Update at 5:51 PM: Rahul Gandhi's visit to Amethi on Friday and Saturday has been cancelled in its entirety. He will now go there after the ongoing parliament session ends. A date for the same will be announced in due course.