Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (L) with brother Rahul Gandhi (R) (PTI/File)
Rai earlier said it is the heartfelt desire of the party leaders and workers that Rahul and Priyanka should contest elections from Amethi and Raebareli respectively
With just weeks to the Lok Sabha election 2024, the Congress is keeping the suspense going over its candidates for Rae Bareli and Amethi parliamentary seats, even as the party announced nine of the 17 candidates from Uttar Pradesh.
Speaking to the media earlier today, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai said the names of candidates for six other seats have been finalised but no discussion took place on Amethi and Rae Bareli seats.
Amethi and Rae Bareli seats were once bastions of the Nehru-Gandhi family. However, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, who represented Amethi in Parliament from 2002, lost the seat to BJP’s Smriti Irani in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Gandhi, a former Congress president, is now MP from Kerala’s Wayanad. The party has again fielded him from there amid growing demand that he contest from Amethi too.
The Rae Bareli seat has been represented by Sonia Gandhi since 2004. But the senior leader has decided she’ll be not contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and has moved to Rajya Sabha.
Now, in her absence from electoral politics, there has been a demand for fielding her daughter and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Rae Bareli. Her posters were also seen in the constituency recently.
Amid the rumours, Rai earlier said it is the heartfelt desire of the party leaders and workers that Rahul and Priyanka should contest elections from Amethi and Raebareli respectively.
“However, the final decision on this matter has to be taken by the party leadership,” he told the news agency PTI on Sunday.
Under an agreement with the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Congress will fight on 17 constituencies, while the rest will be with other INDIA bloc partners.
Meanwhile, the BJP has again fielded Union Minister Smriti Irani from Amethi, but the saffron party is yet to open its cards for Rae Bareli.
The Lok Sabha election in Amethi and Rae Bareli will be held in the fifth phase on May 20.
