Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Congress party is expected to announce its candidates for the Amethi and Raebareli Lok Sabha constituencies today, May 2. The anticipation is high as the names of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are being speculated for the Amethi and Raebareli seats, respectively.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh has subtly implied that the final decision lies with the Gandhi siblings.
Jairam Ramesh emphasized that the decision for Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi to contest from the Amethi and Raebareli seats would be “their personal choice.” He disclosed that the Congress party is expected to announce the candidates for the Raebareli and Amethi Lok Sabha seats by this evening.
Today marks the deadline for filing nominations for Phase 3 of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
Jairam Ramesh said that the CEC has given the entire responsibility to the party president. “I believe there will be an official announcement by evening today. We want Rahul Gandhi to contest from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi from Raebareli, but they have to hold election campaigns across the country,” Ramesh told ANI.
“Both of them are our star campaigners, but the CEC, Congress organization, and Congress workers want Rahul Gandhi to contest from Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi from Raebareli. However, it is their personal choice. They have to decide,” Ramesh added.
Amethi and Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh are considered Congress strongholds, even though Rahul Gandhi lost the Amethi seat to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani during the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
The Rae Bareli constituency was represented by Sonia Gandhi from 2004 to 2024. Earlier this year, the former Congress president moved to the Rajya Sabha.
According to a PTI report, Rahul Gandhi was not keen on the idea of sister Priyanka Gandhi making her debut into electoral politics via Amethi. The report said that Rahul Gandhi has been reluctant to consider Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s criticism of dynasty politics against the Congress leadership.
The PTI report adds that Rahul Gandhi also wants to avoid any of the Gandhi family members in parliament.
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Published: 02 May 2024, 04:49 PM IST