Author: Nistula Hebbar
Publication: The Hindu
Date: September 20, 2015
URL:   http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/union-defence-minister-manohar-parrikar-takes-fight-to-rahul-gandhis-home-turf-adopts-village-in-amethi/article7669174.ece?w=alauto

Parrikar was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh after he joined the Union Cabinet without contesting the Lok Sabha election in 2014.

 The political confrontation between the BJP and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi hit home ground on Saturday when Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar adopted Barauliya, a village in Amethi, Mr. Gandhi’s Lok Sabha constituency, under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Sansad Gram Yojana (PMASGY).

 Mr. Parrikar was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh after he joined the Union Cabinet without contesting the Lok Sabha election in 2014, when he was Goa Chief Minister.

 While Uttar Pradesh has 80 constituencies, Mr. Parrikar’s choice of Amethi is ostensibly a result of a request by Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani, who lost the Lok Sabha election from the constituency. But she continues to maintain links there. “Thank you @manoharparrikar for accepting our request to undertake Barauliya’s development under PM Adarsh Sansad Gram,” she tweeted on Saturday.

 Ms. Irani will visit Amethi on Sunday and distribute 50,000 fruit-bearing trees, on a day when Mr. Gandhi will hold a rally in Delhi to celebrate the Congress’s victory in forcing the lapse of the land ordinance.

 District BJP chief Durgesh Tiwari said Mr. Parrikar’s decision would help establish the “BJP model” of development in the district, thanks to the efforts of two high-profile Ministers.

BJP expects windfall from Parrikar decision

 Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s baiting of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on his home turf is not new. He had campaigned for Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani in Amethi during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

 “The standard of living in Goa is far better than that of Uttar Pradesh, especially in Amethi,” he had said in a speech at that time, citing figures on the development of the two States.

 The Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Sansad Gram Yojana, under which Mr. Parrikar has adopted Barauliya, a village in Amethi, has been rather effective in helping to make political points. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi petitioned Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to help adopt a village in Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s constituency of Azamgarh, also in Uttar Pradesh. That request was denied as MPs are expected to adopt villages from the States from where they are elected.

 Amethi district BJP chief Durgesh Tiwari said Mr. Parrikar’s decision would help to establish the “BJP model” of development in the district, thanks to the efforts of two high-profile Union Ministers. “The contrast in development in Barauliya and other villages will help us make our point,” he said.