Rahul may leave Wayanad for Rae Bareli: Sources
There are indications that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi may vacate his parliamentary seat in Wayanad, Kerala for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Sources suggest he is considering contesting from two constituencies, potentially one in Karnataka or Telangana and another in Uttar Pradesh.
Recently, Congress matriarch Sonia Gandhi announced that she won’t be contesting from UP’s Rae Bareli, a Gandhi family bastion, any more owing to her inability caused by her age, and therefore, got elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Speculations are rife whether Rahul will be taking up the mantle or not. The younger Gandhi faced an embarrassing defeat to BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi in 2019.
Elder sister Priyanka may also join electoral politics this time, and Amethi may be up for a Smriti versus Priyanka showdown in a few months.
The talks over Rahul leaving Wayanad have arisen because of seat-sharing negotiations in Kerala, where the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) is pressing Congress for three seats instead of two. IUML seeks to contest from Wayanad due to its significant Muslim voter base.
Furthermore, the candidacy of Annie Raja from Wayanad by the Communist Party of India (CPI) poses a challenge for the INDIA alliance, as it wouldn’t be ideal for one of its prominent leaders’ spouses to run against Rahul Gandhi (she is the wife of CPI General Secretary and former Rajya Sabha MP, D Raja).
In 2019, Gandhi secured the Wayanad seat with a substantial margin of over 4 lakh votes, defeating CPI candidate PP Suneer.
