Rahul Gandhi will contest LS poll from Amethi, says UP Congress chief Ajay Rai

UP Congress president Ajay Rai has said that Rahul Gandhi will contest from Amethi. The senior Congress leader also said that Priyanka Gandhi wishes to contest from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi faced defeat by BJP candidate Smriti Irani in Amethi in the 2019 elections. Rahul Gandhi is currently the MP from Wayanad. On speculations that Priyanka Gandhi will contest the 2024 elections, Mr Rai said that she will contest from wherever she wants to. “If Priyanka Gandhi wishes to contest from Varanasi, every worker will strive to make her win,” he added. Earlier on Thursday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge appointed Ajay Rai as the chief of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect. “Congress president has appointed Ajay Rai, ex-MLA as the president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect,” the release of All India Congress Committee stated. Ajay Rai was the Congress candidate from Varanasi in 2014 and 2019. He lost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi both times. Earlier, businessman Robert Vadra strongly pitched for his wife and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi to fight the 2024 general elections, saying people will feel good if she comes to the Lok Sabha and the party could field her from Amethi or Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. “… I feel Priyanka should reach the parliament first and people will feel good if she comes to Lok Sabha. Be it Amethi or Sultanpur, wherever the party seems fit, I would like her to contest the Lok Sabha election,” Mr Vadra told news agency ANI.