Former Indian National Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi has decided to retain his Raebareli seat in Uttar Pradesh and vacate his Wayanad constituency in Kerala to allow his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to contest for the first time in a by-election to be held at a later date.
- Read also:Kerala votes with feet, UDF scores landslide victory again
Rahul Gandhi won both seats in the recent 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but decided to retain the Raebareli constituency, which has been the Gandhi family’s territory since the time of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and is politically important as it is located in Uttar Pradesh’s most populous state.
The decision was taken at a meeting on Monday night between the Gandhi family (Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi), Indian National Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and party general secretary KC Venugopal. Party general secretary Priyanka, by accepting the decision of her family and the Indian National Congress, has dropped her reluctance to take part in the elections after having managed Amethi and Raebareli behind the scenes for her family for the past two decades. She has otherwise been running the election campaigns and running the party.
Karge’s statement
Former party leader Sonia Gandhi also gave up her claim to the Raebareli seat which she represented for many years and moved to the Upper House ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking to the media after the meeting at his residence, Congress Party leader Kharge declared, “Rahul Gandhi has won two seats in the Lok Sabha but as per law one seat has to be vacated. Rahul Gandhi will retain Raebareli and vacate the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.”
Thanking his siblings for contributing to strengthening the party, he announced that Priyanka would contest the election from Wayanand constituency. Rahul, Priyanka and Venugopal were present at the press conference.
Rahul Gandhi said he is “emotionally connected” with both Raebareli and Wayanad.
Priyanka said she is excited to be running for election for the first time and is not nervous.
- Read also:Rahul Gandhi said he would take a decision “soon” on the Congress Working Committee’s proposal that he take up the role of Leader of Opposition.
.
This is the last free article.
