Suspense on Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka contesting continues

New Delhi : The suspense on whether top Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would contest the Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seats continued, with only two days left for the nomination process to end. Amethi and Rae Bareli are considered as traditional pocket boroughs of the Gandhi-Nehru family as its members have represented the seats for several decades.

Sources said Rahul Gandhi is likely to contest from Rae Bareli, but a final call is yet to be taken by the first family of the Congress. They added that Priyanka Gandhi is also keen to contest from the Rae Bareli seat, but Rahul Gandhi is not favourable to the idea, considering the criticism of dynasty politics by Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the Congress leadership.

Sources said he does not want all three members of the Gandhi family to be in parliament. They also said that a meeting to discuss the candidature for the two seats was held on Wednesday but no decision was taken. K L Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhis, said people are expecting the Gandhi family members to contest from the Amethi and Rae Bareli seats. A decision will be taken on the matter “very soon” as the last date for filing nominations for the seats is May 3, he added.

Amid the mounting suspense, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that “nobody is scared” and a decision on the matter would be announced in the next 24-30 hours. He said that the party’s central election committee (CEC) has empowered Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to finalise the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli. “My expectation is that in the next 24-30 hours, the Congress president will finalise and a decision taken by him will be announced,” Ramesh said in response to a question at a press conference at the AICC headquarters here.

“Till that is done all the information, all so-called office orders are fake,” he said. Asked why there is a delay in taking a decision and if the Congress was “scared” in fielding Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Ramesh said, “There is no delay. Has the BJP announced its candidates in Rae Bareli? Smriti Irani is a sitting MP. Nobody is scared, discussions are ongoing, and the Congress president has been authorised.”

“There is no delay, there is time till May 3,” he said. The state leadership in Uttar Pradesh has already urged the central election committee and the party leadership to field Rahul Gandhi from Amethi and Priyanka from Rae Bareli.

As speculation mounted, the Congress workers in Amethi on Tuesday also held a sit-in and demanded that the party name a member of the Gandhi family as its candidate from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.