‘Bahu’ vs ‘Shahzada’ in Amethi

• BJP’s Smrithi Irani is fielded against Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi
• AAP candidate Kumar Vishwas says BJP will come third after Congress

New Delhi: In the toughest-ever polls of 2014, considered a do-or-die battle for both Prime Ministerial hopefuls Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, entry of stars into the political arena has brought in an element of glitz and glamour. Political parties often pick these stars from the film world and the small screen for their popularity with the masses, in the hope that they would attract crowds and succeed in diverting the attention of the people from their rivals.

Smriti Irani, who is pitted against Congress Prime Ministerial face Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, played the role of an ideal bahu in the famous serial, Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and was inducted into the BJP by Pramod Mahajan. She succeeded in winning the hearts of her seniors and the public at large by her oratorial skills and her witticism. While in her early days, she was critical of Modi and even demanded an apology from him for the 2002 Gujarat riots, later she managed to switch sides and is now his staunchest supporter, who managed to get the Rajya Sabha seat from Modi's State, though there were many others like party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman, who lost out in the race.

After giving a tough fight to Kapil Sibal in 2009 Lok Sabha polls in Chandni Chowk constituency in Delhi, Smriti Irani has been promoted this time by her party to give a "good fight" to none else but Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi in the pocket-borough of the Gandhis, the famous constituency of Amethi.

The fight is not limited to Rahul of the Congress versus Smriti Irani of the BJP, but also in the fray is Kumar Vishwas of AAP, who has been sweating it out in the constituency along with his family for the last two months. In the triangular fight, it is all likely that Vishwas and Smriti would find themselves engaged in verbal duels, while Rahul would adorn the role of mauni baba, preferring to ignore the puerile statements of the "political lightweights." Instead, he will be busy elsewhere, settling scores with their bosses - Arvind Kejriwal and Narendra Modi. So far, the Congress vice-president has ignored the presence of AAP in the elections by seldom speaking against Arvind Kejriwal. As far as Modi is oncerned, Rahul has attacked him on the Gujarat model and divisive agenda. Both Smriti and Vishwas have already started targeting each other, with the former terming AAP as the B-Team of the Congress, while the latter has rhymed on her name, saying that whether an Irani comes or Pakistani, it does not make any difference for him. Congress candidate in Lucknow Rita Bahuguna took a dig at Smriti Irani, terming TV stars as non-serious entrants in political arena only to create loud noises and divert attention.

Like Smriti Irani, there are many other stars in the political fray, including Nagma and Raj Babbar (both from the Congress), Jaya Prada from RLD, Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini and Kirron Kher from BJP, Gul Panag and Manoj Tewari from AAP, Moon Moon Sen and Biswajit from Trinamool Congress, besides the others. It remains to be seen, how many of them will emerge victorious in the battle of the ballot in 2014.