LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI:
Rahul Gandhi
and
Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra will contest
Lok Sabha elections
from Amethi and Rae Bareli seats, respectively, said Congress functionaries, adding that the decision was taken at a meeting they had with the party leadership in Delhi this week.
It implies Priyanka's electoral debut from the seat represented by her mother Sonia Gandhi, who has now moved to RS, and Rahul possibly contesting from Amethi, along with Wayanad in Kerala.
Asked about the growing buzz, Pradeep Singhal, Amethi district Congress chief, said, "Yes, it's correct, both will contest from Amethi and Rae Bareli. We had gone to Delhi for a meeting chaired by the party's top leadership. The party has asked us to start preparing for the election, which we have."
The claim ties in with the indications that there is growing pressure on Gandhi family to contest from the pocket borough where the party hold has grown weaker post-2014, evidenced in Rahul's defeat at the hands of Union minister Smriti Irani in the 2019 polls.
Top party sources, however, said no decision has been conveyed by the Gandhi family yet on Amethi and Rae Bareli, but demands have only been growing in recent months. Scores of workers from Amethi-Rae Bareli are presently camping in the capital, and their visit to AICC headquarters on Wednesday triggered a media frenzy. Their claims about Rahul-Amethi, Priyanka-Rae Bareli went viral.
Although leaders acknowledge that 2024 contest would be tough for the opposition in the northern region, managers also exude confidence that the twin seats would react positively to the Gandhi family. "Voters here have a personal connect with the family. The 2019 Amethi defeat was an aberration, more because of our mismanagement" a key loyalist said.
Meanwhile, the party brass is also learnt to have sought the views of veterans who have experience of the ground in UP, and have received positive feedback. Last month, the response to Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the two seats was enough to nudge AICC office-bearers like Jairam Ramesh to say that Rahul would contest from Amethi.
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