Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh): Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai on Friday said that former party president and senior leader Rahul Gandhi will contest from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency for the next year's General elections.
"Definitely, Rahul Gandhi will contest from Amethi (Lok Sabha constituency). Priyanka (Gandhi) ji can contest from Varanasi if she wishes to do so and each of our party workers will work hard for it," Ajay Rai told reporters.
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"Smriti Irani is herself terrified. She had promised to deliver sugar as Rs 13 to the people of Amethi and asked them to vote for BJP, has she been able to that?," asked Rai.
New Delhi-born Rahul Gandhi, son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Amethi constituency to BJP leader and now Union Minister Smriti Irani. However, he had also contested from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency from Kerala and won the seat in the southern state.
Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership was reinstated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla following a stay on his conviction by Supreme Court in the Modi surname defamation case. The Gandhi scion, who has repeatedly taken on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a range of issues, including violence in Manipur, is currently touring Ladakh.
Rahul Gandhi's sister Priyanka has not contested the Lok Sabha polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi won from the Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh and defeated Ajay Rai in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Rai had also unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from the Varanasi constituency. On Thursday, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge appointed Ajay Rai as the President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect.
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