Amethi, May 12 (NDTV): In Rahul Gandhi's Amethi, union minister Smriti Irani today declared him M.I.A or missing in action. She is in the Congress Vice President's Lok Sabha constituency today on a one-day tour designed to underscore that he has not visited Amethi in over three months.

"The MP of Amethi (Rahul Gandhi) has been missing from here," the 39-year-old minister said. When asked if she had strategically planned her visit six days before Mr Gandhi comes to Amethi, Ms Irani said, "Rahul Gandhi's timing is suspect, not mine."

She also added, "I am glad, at least, Rahul is following my footsteps, the people of Amethi will get to see him." Mr Gandhi's office had on Saturday announced on Twitter, his two-day Amethi visit from May 18.

In Amethi, Ms Irani is pointedly doing today what Mr Gandhi has been doing in the rest of the country ever since he returned from a two-month sabbatical - offering solace to farmers whose crops have been destroyed by unseasonal rain.

At a meeting of farmers, she promised help from the Centre and also that she would be back on a follow-up visit at the end of the month.

In the national elections last year, the BJP had parachuted Ms Irani in Amethi to take on Mr Gandhi, who has been winning the family bastion since 2004. Ms Irani gave Mr Gandhi a run for his money, managing to reduce his margin of victory.

Though she has visited Amethi only once since the elections, a point that the Congress has made, she had sent sarees for women in the Uttar Pradesh district as a Diwali gift.

In Parliament last week, Ms Irani had taken on Mr Gandhi when he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the cancellation of a food park in Amethi.

Food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal made a statement on the food park in Parliament today.