Sparks fly as BJP, Cong, SP big guns roar in Amethi

Amethi (UP), May 17 (IANS) Just three days before the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls kicks off, Amethi turned into a virtual battleground on Friday with big guns from the BJP, Congress and SP addressing major election rallies in the constituency.Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav raised political temperatures in Amethi while campaigning.In his speech, HM Shah slammed nepotism in the Congress and SP and said that Amethi and Raebareli were not family seats and did not belong to one family.He termed the Congress and SP as anti-Hindu and said that they spurned the invitation to the opening of the Ram Temple.He also said that the Modi Government was committed to protecting the boundaries of the country.“Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir belongs to us and we will take it back,” he promised.HM Shah asked people to make the lotus bloom in Amethi and Raebareli and the BJP will be ‘400 paar’.The INDIA bloc rally was jointly addressed by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.An emotional Rahul Gandhi recalled his 42-year-old association with the constituency and said that he had first come to Amethi with his father, late Rajiv Gandhi, as a 12-year-old.“Whatever I know of