Cong, BJP want big face-offs: Sonia Vs Uma Bharti, Rahul Vs Smriti Irani?

With candidates for key constituencies still to be announced by both top parties, speculation is rife about the biggest contests of this election – who will contest against Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareilly, against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi and Narendra Modi in Varanasi. [caption id=“attachment_729263” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Uma Bharti said rape should not be looked at from regional lens. PTI.[/caption] That the Modi Vs Kejriwal battle in Varanasi will not be a two-horse race became clear when don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari confirmed his candidature, but the Congress is yet to field its candidate, though the odds of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh getting that ticket appear high. On Thursday night, the focus shifted to two other key constituencies in the battleground state of Uttar Pradesh, with reports suggesting that the BJP could field Uma Bharati, also incidentally a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareily. An announcement could be made on Friday, said a report in The Indian Express. The BJP and the Congress appear tied in a battle to see who can build the bigger, more high-profile face-offs, especially since Bharti was actually already announced by the BJP as the party candidate from Jhansi. With the Congress fielding Rahul confidante Madhusudan Mistry against Narendra Modi in Vadodara, and promising to field a high-profile leader in Varanasi too, the BJP is keen to give back in good measure. The Economic Times reported that the question of who to field against Sonia and Rahul was discussed at the highest level of the BJP and also at the party’s central election committee. Bharti’s name had been reportedly suggested by Baba Ramdev. Accordingly, besides Bharti, the party is now reportedly also considering former television star Smriti Irani for Amethi, where she will take on Rahul Gandhi and AAP’s Kumar Vishwas. Irani is a Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP and currently the national vice president of the BJP.