Amethi was a long-held bastion of the Gandhi family till Rahul Gandhi was ousted in the 2019 general election by BJP's Smriti Irani.
Published Aug 18, 2023 | 8:07 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 19, 2023 | 8:12 AM
Rahul Gandhi. (Facebook)
Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, according to newly appointed state Congress president Ajay Rai.
“Rahul Gandhi will definitely contest the Lok Sabha election from Amethi, the people of Amethi are here,” Rai, who was made the president of the state unit of the party in the latest reshuffle, told reporters in Varanasi on Friday, 18 August.
However, the Congress leader has, in the past, categorically stated that he would never abandon Wayanad and that the people of the constituency — who came out in spontaneous protest when he was disqualified as MP after being convicted by a Surat court in the Modi surname case — were “like his family”.
The constituency also celebrated in style when he was reinstated as MP after the Supreme Court stayed the conviction in his case.
The Congress-led UDF in Kerala, too, benefitted in the last election because Rahul Gandhi was a candidate in Wayanad. The alliance won 19 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Amethi was a long-held bastion of the Gandhi family till Rahul Gandhi, who had been an MP from the seat since 2004, was ousted in the 2019 general election by BJP’s Smriti Irani.
Rahul Gandhi was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 from the Wayanad constituency in Kerala. However, he was disqualified after he was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a court in Surat of Gujarat.
He was reinstated as the MP representing Wayanad after the Supreme Court stayed the trial court judgement on 4 August.
The case was filed against Rahul Gandhi on a complaint by Purnesh Modi for the 52-year-old Congress leader’s remarks at a public event.
Gandhi made the comment on the “Modi surname” while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka on 13 April, 2019, during the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress leader was convicted on 23 March by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma and sentenced to two years in jail — the maximum possible sentence in a defamation case, and also the minimum required to disqualify a convicted MP from the House.
A day after his conviction and sentence, he was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha.
Surrounded by party workers and leaders, who gathered at the airport as he arrived from Delhi, Rai said that if party national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi desires, she can contest from Varanasi or any other place.
“If Priyanka Gandhi has the desire to fight from Varanasi, every single worker will work wholeheartedly for her,” he said.
When asked about Union minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in the last election, Rai said she appears frustrated.
“Smriti Irani seems frustrated. She said she will get sugar at ₹13 per kg, did she manage it? People from Amethi are here, ask them,” Rai said.
Rai said unemployment, inflation, and “fear created through ED and CBI” would be the main issues in the coming general elections.
He said the party would take the message of “love” given by Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikajurn Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi to every village and every house.
(With PTI inputs)
