Rahul Gandhi to contest national elections in Congress party stronghold of Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh
Rahul Gandhi, de facto leader of the opposition Indian National Congress (INC), is running for office in his family stronghold of Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh.
The decision was announced on Friday, the last day for nominations in the constituency which goes to the polls on May 20 in the fifth of seven rounds of legislative elections that will determine the country’s new government.
Raebareli is located in the politically crucial region of Uttar Pradesh, which is India’s largest state and accounts for 80 of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament).
Gandhi is contesting elections here, as well as in his core constituency of Wayanad in the southern state of Kerala, which has already voted in April. Candidates are allowed to run in multiple constituencies but can only represent one.
The Congress party’s move aims to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this key region, dominated by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was earlier speculated that Gandhi might contest against BJP-backed Smriti Irani, who is minister for women, child development and minority affairs in the Modi government, in Amethi constituency in the ‘Uttar Pradesh.
In a major upset for the Congress party in 2019, Gandhi was defeated by television actress-turned-politician Irani in Amethi, where he had previously been elected as an MP three times. This time, the Congress has chosen Kishori Lal Sharma as its candidate from Amethi.
Irani claimed that the Congress party had already “defeat accepted” in Amethi by choosing not to run any member of the Gandhi family in the key constituency.
Narendra Modi also suggested that Gandhi was afraid of losing. “He was afraid of fighting in Amethi and fled to Raebareli. I want to tell him, daro mat, bhago mat (don’t be afraid, don’t run away)”, “, the Prime Minister said on Friday at an election rally in the state of West Bengal.
Raebareli, considered a stronghold of the Congress party, was chosen by Gandhi as “safer bet” Indian political analysts have suggested this. The Gandhi family has been part of Raebareli’s political landscape since 1952. Feroze Gandhi, husband of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, won here in 1952 and 1957. Indira Gandhi was an MP from the constituency from 1967 to 1977. Others Prominent personalities who represented Raebareli Among them, Arun Nehru, a key figure in the administration of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi; and Sheila Kaul, Indira Gandhi’s aunt.
More recently, Sonia Gandhi, wife of Rajiv Gandhi and mother of Rahul Gandhi, consolidated the family’s hold on the constituency in 2004. She won the 2019 elections with over 55% of the votes. This year, Rahul Gandhi will take on BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh, who lost to Sonia Gandhi in the last elections.
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