Smriti Irani's 'griha pravesh' at new residence in Amethi ahead of election

Smriti Irani performed the griha pravesh ceremony in her Amethi house on Thursday. The land was bought in 2021.

Union minister Smriti Irani and her husband Zubin Irani performed the rituals of griha pravesh at the minister's new residence in Amethi, the Lok Sabha seat that Smriti Irani wrested from Rahul Gandhi in 2019. The occasion comes months ahead of the Lok Sabha election 2024 in which Amethi may witness another high-octane fight as the Congress has not given up hopes on Amethi and negotiated for the seat in its seat-sharing deal with INDIA bloc ally Samajwadi Party.

Smriti Irani and her husband performing griha pravesh at their Amethi residence on Thursday.

The griha pravesh occasion comes days after Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra passed through Amethi.

In 2019, Smriti Irani promised that she would have a permanent address in Amethi if she got elected. In February 2021, she bought a plot of 15,000 square feet of land in the Gauriganj area. In 2023, Smriti Irani hosted a 'khichdi bhoj ' at her new residence in Amethi. A year later, the griha pravesh ceremony was held on Thursday.

Are all these a prelude to a major Smriti Irani versus Rahul Gandhi from Amethi once again? Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh recently said the people of Amethi want Rahul Gandhi to contest from the constituency but the final decision would be taken by the party's Central Election Committee. Smriti Irani said she also wanted Rahul Gandhi to contest from Amethi once again. "I am happy that Jairam Ramesh has accepted my challenge and Rahul Gandhi is ready to contest elections from Amethi without Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati's support...Being an ordinary worker of BJP, I welcome this challenge. Since Jairam Ramesh has announced this, today all of us, Amethi workers will be waiting for Rahul Gandhi to announce this through CEC today," Smriti Irani said on Tuesday when both Smriti Irani and Rahul Gandhi were in Amethi.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi earlier commented on Smriti Irani's planned 'griha pravesh' in Amethi coinciding with Rahul Gandhi's Yatra, "Imagine doing Gruh Pravesh after 5 years of winning the constituency, 3 years after buying the land. Imagine the desperation of having to coincide it to a Yatra," Priyanka Chaturvedi posted on X.