Amethi: On Wednesday, Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) Priyanka Gandhi will kick-start her three-day election campaign from her brother Rahul Gandhi's bastion Amethi amid speculations that the Congress president might not contest from his home turf in the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections. After Amethi today, she will proceed to Raebareli, another Congress stronghold, on Thursday and Ayodhya on March 29.

Here it is to be noted that Amethi has remained a Nehru-Gandhi bastion since the 1980 and a Congress stronghold since 1966. However, this time around, the battle for Amethi seems stiff for Rahul as Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate from the seat, Smriti Irani, is expected to give him a tough competition following a shift in allegiances within the town as locals complain lack of development under the Gandhi rule. Subsequently, there are rumours of him contesting from 'safe seat' Wayanad in north Kerala, which party workers predict will be a sure-shot victory for the Congress president.

also read Identical Nose like grandmother didn’t ensure to gets power: Union Minister

However, Rahul Gandhi has been a Member of Parliament from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency since 2004. The general elections will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 for 543 Lok Sabha seats across the country. Counting will be done on May 23. As per schedule plan of visit, Priyanka's 'rath' to travel across Faizabad, Sultanpur, Amethi and Unnao during her three-day campaign. She had earlier this month visited the state's two temple towns Varanasi and Prayagraj, and then Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee files a complaint with the state Chief Electoral Officer against BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Puri, Sambit Patra, for allegedly violating the ECI's Model Code of Conduct by holding an idol of Lord Jagannath, the local deity, in his hand during an election rally on Tuesday.

It is to be noted that veteran actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada, who quit the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP on Tuesday, gets the ticket to contest the general elections from Rampur against her former nemesis Azam Khan of the SP.

also read A Singapore Airlines pilot raised a bomb threat alert, later found ….