Rahul Gandhi and Smriti Irani in Amethi today

Amethi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani are all set to take the political hotbed of Amethi by storm with both the leaders descending here on Friday. 

The duo had contested the last Lok Sabha elections from here, a contest won by the Congress chief, and are likely to lock horns once again in the upcoming general election. While Rahul will be in Amethi on January 4 and 5, Irani, a vocal critic of the Gandhi scion, will begin her daylong visit to the Gandhi bastion on Friday. 

The Congress chief will meet the people of his constituency, attend public and party reception, hold ‘corner



meetings’ in Salon and visit Pareshdepur, Naseerabad, Paraiya Namaksar and Gauriganj areas on Friday.

Irani, on the other hand, will attend a programme organised by Raghav Sewa Sansthan during which blankets and financial assistance will be extended to needy people and a foundation stone for a school will also be laid. Though the Union textiles minister was trounced by the Gandhi scion in 2014 election, she maintained her contact with the constituency, nurturing it and visiting it frequently. 

Irani continued to cultivate Amethi during these years, dropping enough hints that she will once again contest against Rahul in the polls.