New Delhi: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her electoral debut from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, with Rahul Gandhi deciding to retain the Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh, vacating the seat in Kerala for his sister, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced Monday.
Speaking to reporters at his residence after a meeting with Rahul, Priyanka, Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, Kharge said the decision was arrived at after careful deliberations. The Congress had to take a decision in this regard by Tuesday.
Rahul thanked the people of Wayanad for supporting him “during a very difficult time”, and assured them that he will keep visiting the constituency, along with his sister. “The people of Wayanad can think of it like this, that they have two MPs now,” he said. In the 2019 general elections, Rahul had lost from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, but secured a berth in the Lok Sabha from Wayanad.
This time, he contested from Rae Bareli, while also contesting from Wayanad. He emerged as a winner from both seats, leading to a “dilemma”, in his own words, on which one to retain. Priyanka, meanwhile, played a major role behind not just his victory from Rae Bareli, but also the defeat of BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi at the hands of Congress’s Kishori Lal Sharma.
Responding to questions, Priyanka said she was “not at all nervous” about her poll debut. “I am very happy. I won’t let the people of Wayanad feel his (Rahul) absence. I will try my best to be a good representative. I also have old ties with Rae Bareli. I will help my brother in both the places,” she said in her brief remarks.
If Priyanka wins from Wayanad, in the Lok Sabha bypoll that will be necessitated after Rahul vacates the seat, it will be the first time in history that three members of the Gandhi family will be in Parliament. While the siblings will be in Lok Sabha, their mother Sonia, the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, is now a Rajya Sabha MP.
This excludes BJP leaders Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi, who represent the other branch of the family. Both of them were MPs when Rahul and Sonia were in the Lok Sabha as well.
Sonia was the Rae Bareli MP between 2004 and 2019. Both Kharge and Rahul also referred to the long ties of the Gandhi family with the Rae Bareli seat.
“The people of Rae Bareli also wanted this and so does the party. Of course the people of Wayanad want that as well but unfortunately the law does not permit that. So we had to take this decision. The people of Wayanad can also draw strength from the fact that Rahul Gandhi is not going away,” Kharge said.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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