In Rahul Gandhi's twin wins, a tough choice emerges to retain the saviour seat or traditional stronghold

The 2024 Lok Sabha election results swung in a number of surprises. The BJP did not cross the ‘400 paar’ mark but did extremely well in Odisha by fighting all odds to bring an end to Naveen Patnaik-led BJD’s legacy. Meanwhile, the INDIA bloc has performed better than expected, by clinching seats from the saffron party in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

In fact, Rahul Gandhi, who contested from Wayanad and Rae Bareli, won handsomely in both the seats. Gandhi had announced that he would run from Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli days after Wayanad went to polls during the second phase of elections on April 26.

The news was taken by surprise by many with some criticising the leader while others supported him. From Congress’ opposition to the common man of Wayanad, everyone had an opinion about Rahul’s decision. Some people of Wayanad backed Gandhi, saying that since he is “leading” the INDIA bloc, he could contest from more than one seat. These are the same people who have pinned hopes on the Congress MP to vacate the Rae Bareli seat in case he wins from both constituencies.

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When asked which seat he would give up at a press conference on June 4, Gandhi said, “I have won from both seats and I want to thank the voters of Rae Bareli and Wayanad. It is yet to be decided on which seat I’ll stay… I will discuss this.”

The BJP and the Left, who had fielded strong candidates to challenge Gandhi, claimed he would abandon Wayanad if he won from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.

Senior CPI leader Annie Raja was the Left candidate from the constituency, while the BJP’s state chief K Surendran was tasked with taking on Gandhi and Raja, both leaders of INDIA bloc partners.

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Rahul faces a tough choice ahead owing to the grand old party’s long history with both Wayanad and Rae Bareli.

Congress’ attachment with Wayanad

Since it was formed in 2009, the people of Wayanad have only trusted Congress candidates. That year Congress’ former Working Committee president, the late MI Shan, was elected into power.

Famous for its lush green hills, diverse cultural heritage, and significant tribal population, the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency has been a focal point of Indian politics since it gained national attention with Rahul Gandhi’s candidacy in 2019.

Gandhi came into the scene at a time when the Congress was looking to garner the minority votes and Wayanad was best suited for the purpose.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that Rahul Gandhi especially asked Congress’ top brass to let him re-run from the constituency as he did not want to abandon voters who supported him at a crucial time of his political career.

Congress’ ‘hand’ on Rae Bareli

Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli has a long relationship with the grand old party and yesterday’s result showed that Congress is here to stay.

Rahul Gandhi won the seat by 3,90,030 votes, beating BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh.

Gandhi family’s association with Rae Bareli began in 1952 with Feroze Gandhi, son-in-law of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and husband of Indira Gandhi, winning the seat during the first general elections of India.

Next came Indira Gandhi who took over her husband’s seat in 1961 by winning over 55 per cent of the votes.

The only time Congress did not win the seat was the post-emergency period when Indira Gandhi lost Rae Bareli to Bharatiya Lok Dal’s Raj Narain.

Following this, Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the seat and stayed there for nearly two decades.

Therefore, in case Rahul chooses to give up Rae Bareli, there is no guarantee that the bye-elections would see another Congress, perhaps a non-Gandhi, leader winning from the constituency. Would Congress risk such a possibility? Only time could tell.