‘Not disappointed by the defeat, elections will come and go…’, Smriti Irani revealed her heart’s connection with Amethi

New Delhi : Former Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani has said that she is not disappointed at all on her defeat from Amethi Lok Sabha seat. She said in a podcast that elections will keep coming and going. The real victory for her is the work done for the people of Amethi. Irani said that Amethi is an emotional issue for her. Irani, who earned a name as a ‘giant killer’ by defeating Congress veteran Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, faced a crushing defeat in 2024 from Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma. Smriti Irani said in a podcast, ‘I am not upset with my defeat from Amethi. BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee also lost the election. So far, it is not only Narendra Modi who has lost. I have lost elections before, when I contested from Chandni Chowk in 2004 and Amethi in 2014.’

Irani said, ‘Elections will come and go. My real victory is that 1 lakh families are living in their homes today. 80,000 homes now have electricity and two lakh families have got gas cylinders for the first time.’

Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi without naming him/her, the former Union minister said earlier there were allegations that the MP was never seen in Amethi, but he/she ensured that the constituency was never neglected and even bought a house there.

Irani said, ‘On March 22, 2014, at 11 pm, I got a call from Rajnath Singh that I have to go to Amethi and contest elections from there. I did not complain about it and accepted the challenge.’ She said, ‘When I went there, I saw that there were 40 villages where roads were not built after independence. In the last five years, I have built houses for one lakh families, 3.5 lakh toilets, and linked 4 lakh people to the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. About two lakh families have received gas cylinders for the first time.’

By mentioning the plight of Amethi in 2014, he/she in a way attacked Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi family. Before losing to Irani in 2019, Rahul Gandhi was an MP from here three times. Now he/she is an MP from Rae Bareli, the seat of his/her mother Sonia Gandhi, next to Amethi. Amethi and Rae Bareli are called the fort of the Gandhi family.

This time in the Lok Sabha elections, Irani was defeated by KL Sharma in Amethi by more than 1.6 lakh votes. This margin was three times the margin by which she defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019.

During the podcast, when Irani was asked whether she would be made the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi Assembly elections, she did not give a direct answer. Irani said, ‘It is a privilege to serve the people. I have been an MP thrice and have been the head of five-six departments. I have also been the president of the BJP Mahila Morcha and the national secretary of the party.’