A day after a statement from the newly appointed Congress Uttar Pradesh chief sparked rumors, there was growing clamor from Congress leaders and a stern attack from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the possibility of Rahul Gandhi running in the 2024 general elections from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency.
After 15 years in office, Rahul Gandhi lost the Amethi seat to BJP union minister Smriti Irani in 2019. He did, after all, run and win in Kerala’s Wayanad.
Ajay Rai, the head of the Congress’s UP unit, and other party officials backed up their claims on Saturday.
Rahul Gandhi is desired by the residents of Amethi as their MP. He will win by a landslide if he runs from Amethi. Because he kept his word, Rahul Gandhi is regarded as a member of the Amethi community, Rai told reporters on Saturday. “It is a desire of the people there and the employees of the Congress…The public wants Congress to take office…To guarantee that we succeed, we shall perform to the best of our ability.
Harish Rawat, a former chief minister of Uttarakhand, agreed with Rai and proposed that Gandhi run for office again from both Amethi and Wayanad. Rahul Gandhi would run from both Amethi and Wayanad since Wayanad backed him at a time of need, according to Rawat.
Rashid Alvi, a prominent Congressman from Uttar Pradesh, said that Irani would forfeit her security deposit if Gandhi campaigned for office in Amethi in 2024.
The words were quickly characterized as “personal opinions” by two Congressmen close to Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi is now serving as an MP for the Kerala district of Wayanad. At this point, any notion about Gandhi visiting Amethi is just conjecture. Gandhi running for office from Amethi has not been discussed in the Congress, one of the leaders said, requesting anonymity.
“These matters (the Gandhi seat) will be considered the next year. The Congress has not yet begun debating seats for the elections in 2024. He is an elected representative of Wayanad, and as such, he is accountable to his constituents, remarked a different leader.
In response to the rumors, the BJP said that Gandhi would lose if he ran from Amethi.
“The Amethi residents have been treated like chewing gum by the Congress. While Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and PM Modi’s leadership have transformed the city’s landscape and brought about many beneficial improvements, they did little to further development. According to BJP politician and former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, “People won’t forgive them [the Congress].”
Tarun Chugh, the national general secretary of the BJP, too disparaged Gandhi over the matter. In Amethi, they did not do any job. Rahul Gandhi was already beaten by the people of Amethi; they will do so once again, he said.
Prior to Irani’s victory against Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 elections, the Gandhi family held a pocket borough in the Amethi seat for many years. Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli was the sole Congress politician to win a seat in the state in 2019.
Before Rahul ran for office from the Amethi constituency for the first time in 2004, past leaders Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and Sonia Gandhi all held the seat in the Lok Sabha.