May 01, 2024 03:09 PM IST
Rahul Gandhi has now fixed plans for a rally in Pune on May 3, the last date for filing nominations for Phase 5 when Amethi and Raebareli go to polls on May 20.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is unwilling to contest Lok Sabha elections either from Amethi or Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and he doesn’t want any family member to be fielded in these seats, party functionaries familiar with the matter said. HT has learnt that he has now fixed plans to address a rally in Pune on May 3, which happens to be the last date of filing nominations for Phase 5 when the two constituencies that are closely associated with the Gandhis go to polls on May 20. Follow full coverage of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections here.
“Congress president (Mallikarjun) Khargeji is still trying to convince him (Gandhi), but it looks like his mind is made up,’’ said a party functionary on condition of anonymity.
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A second official told HT that Gandhi had almost agreed to fight from Rae Bareli till last night but later decided against it. “Rahul doesn’t want any family member to contest from these seats,” he said.
Also Read | Demanding a Gandhi family candidate from Amethi, Congmen stage protest
A Samajwadi Party spokesperson confirmed that former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has been kept in the loop. When they met during a rally last month, Gandhi is believed to have asked Yadav’s opinion about whether he should contest. Yadav had said that he was strongly for it. He also conveyed that there was a groundswell of support for the Congress leader who had won the seat from 2004 till 2014, only losing it to the BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019. Gandhi had said that he didn’t want to fight it but would let Yadav know if he changed his mind.
With the party schedule out, it is now getting clear that Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi will sit out of this contest, with Rahul preferring to stay with Wayanad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made consistent attacks against dynastic politics or parivarwaad and Gandhi felt this would give him ammunition. When the election committee of the party met recently, they authorised party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to take the call. Gandhi had told reporters that he will do as the president instructed but he has been unrelenting on this. It’s unclear if he will change his mind at the last minute.
Also Read | Grand show marks Smriti Irani’s nomination in Amethi
For now, there are very few options that the Congress party has for these two seats. The local workers had conveyed to the party chief that if Priyanka or Rahul fought from there, it would bolster the party’s efforts to rebuild the state team. Sonia Gandhi, who was the only Congress MP to win the Lok Sabha poll from Uttar Pradesh in 2019, has now taken Rajya Sabha route from Rajasthan.
The party’s UP in-charge Avinash Pande had told HT that the party was delaying announcing its candidates from the two seats because of its strategy. The BJP too has not revealed their candidate from Rae Bareli, although as HT reported, Varun Gandhi, sitting MP from Pilibhit has been asked to.
The BJP’s internal surveys have said that Amethi has Smriti Irani as the front runner, but Rae Bareli is a tough seat for the party.
Congress general secretary in charge of communication Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said the party is expected to announce the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli in the next 24 to 30 hours.
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sunetra Choudhury is the National Political Editor of the Hindustan Times. With over two decades of experience in print and television, she has authored Black Warrant (Roli,2019), Behind Bars: Prison Tales of India’s Most Famous (Roli,2017) and Braking News (Hachette, 2010). Sunetra is the recipient of the Red Ink award in journalism in 2016 and Mary Morgan Hewett award in 2018.
