NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s decision to pick Rae Bareli over Amethi boiled down to safety and practicality. He opted for the safer of the two seats, allowing him to campaign nationally without being tied to one constituency.
Party sources told The Sunday Guardian that three things were clear: one that Rahul, who is the de facto face of the Congress party had to contest from one of the two seats that have selected Gandhi family members as Members of Parliament for a long time; two, he had to contest from a Hindi belt seat to ensure that he was not bracketed as a “non-Hindi belt” leader; and thirdly, if Amethi was going to be the choice and not Rae Bareli, it would require allotment of more time and resources which could be saved vis-à-vis Rae Bareli.
On the charge by BJP leaders that Rahul had “run away” from Amethi, Congress leaders who spoke to The Sunday Guardian stated that every leader contests the election to win which, they claimed, also explains why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not contested from any seat in Kerala.
“Political rhetoric aside, every candidate would like to contest from a seat where the chances of him winning are the strongest. Our friends in the BJP also know this and that is why you see BJP leaders who claim pan-India presence ultimately fight from the seats where they know their chances of winning are the maximum. And it is no revelation that the BJP MP in Amethi is in a good position, so the Congress leaders took a practical decision keeping in mind the larger picture,” a senior party leader considered close to the Gandhi family, said.
Apart from Rae Bareli, Rahul is also contesting from Wayanad, Kerala from where he is the sitting MP, and a seat that he is expected to retain. Thereby guaranteeing him a Lok Sabha membership and the party one seat.
Both Amethi and Rae Bareli will go to the polls in the fifth phase on 20 May.
This is the first time since 2004, when Rahul made his Lok Sabha debut, that he will not contest from the Amethi seat. The country has witnessed five Lok Sabha elections since then. Rahul had lost to Irani in the 2019 polls.
Earlier there were reports that Congress general secretary and Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra might be fielded from Rae Bareli, a seat which was vacated by their mother, Sonia Gandhi due to ill health.
However, this plan was shelved after considering that there was no sure shot guarantee of a Congress win on this seat and the supporters and advisors of Priyanka believed that it would not be a prudent step for her to contest her first Lok Sabha seat when there was no guarantee of a win.
“Rahul, by all accurate feedback, will win from Wayanad. Rae Bareli, we are confident but I am not going to say right now that we have a guaranteed win there,” another senior party leader said.
According to them the name of Robert Vadra, the husband of Priyanka, was never seriously considered in the list of possible candidates from Amethi seat.