Amid the suspense over Congress nominees from Uttar Pradesh's Amethi and Raebareli, reports on Thursday indicated that Rahul Gandhi is likely to contest from the seat he lost last time. The grand old party is expected to announce the name tonight with Friday being the last date of filing of nominations.
When asked, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "I am hopeful that some formal announcement on Congress candidates from Amethi and Rae Bareli is likely to be made today."
On April 27, the Central Election Committee (CEC) of Congress chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge met to discuss the probable names for the two key Lok Sabha constituencies. However, at the end of the meeting, the committee sought a few more days to finalise the names.
"You have to wait for a few more days... when the names of candidates come from people to me and I sign the notification, it will be announced," stated the party president on April 27.
Rahul Gandhi on contesting from Amethi
Amid the confusion over whether or not Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok saabha polls from Uttar Pradesh's Amethi this time, earlier during a press conference, Rahul Gandhi stated that he would "abide with the party's decision" regarding the UP Seat.
'Migrated to Kerala': BJP's attack on Gandhi over Amethi
Launching a scathing attack on Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently said, “Rahul Gandhi has migrated to Kerala from Uttar Pradesh. He lost in Amethi last time, so he does not have courage to contest from there this time",Rajnath Singh said.
Similarly, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also said the Congress leader should contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
"I think Rahul Gandhi should contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Amethi seat", Shah said.
Besides BJP, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad also recently alleged that Gandhi was "hesitant" to contest from the BJP-ruled states. Azad further said that Gandhi sought refuge in states with considerably high minority population.
"Why is Rahul Gandhi hesitant to contest in the BJP-ruled states? While Gandhi claims to be fighting the BJP, his actions suggest otherwise. Why fly from the BJP-ruled states and seek refuge in minority-dominated ones?" Azad said while addressing public meetings in Sangaldan, Ukhral areas of the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency.
