After Priyanka Gandhi's refusal, Congress fields Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli

New Delhi: Ending weeks of speculation, the Congress fielded Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli and Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi seats. Rahul Gandhi nomination from Rae Bareli to be attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, deputy chief minister of Karnataka D K Shiv Kumar and Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy. In a special flight from Karnataka via Telangana these leaders are reaching Rae Bareli for the nomination.

Rahul Gandhi for Rae Bareli

Rae Bareli was the seat held by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi since 2004.

Sonia Gandhi is now a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination at noon and will be accompanied by his sister Priyanka Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi is also contesting the election from Wayanad in Kerala. He won the seat in 2019.

Bharatiya Janta Party announced Dinesh Pratap Singh for Rae Bareli on May 2nd. Singh lost to Sonia Gandhi in 2019.

There were rumors that the BJP wanted to field Varun Gandhi for Rae Bareli but he refused as he didn’t want a ‘Gandhi versus Gandhi’ contest.

Kishori Lal Sharma for Amethi

Amethi was considered the Gandhi-Nehru family seat but in 2019 Rahul Gandhi lost to BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani.

Smriti Irani has filed her nomination from Amethi for BJP.

Kishori Lal Sharma is known in political circles as a Gandhi loyalist.

His nomination papers are to be filed at 10 am. Priyanka Gandhi will accompany him in filing the nomination papers.

May 3 last day of the nomination

Both these seats have been declared on the last day of nomination by the Congress party. According to sources, there was pressure on Priyanka Gandhi to contest one of the seats but she refused.

Priyanka Gandhi according to sources is working on the organizational structure of the Congress party. Insiders say that she is donning the hat of senior deceased Congress leader Ahmed Patel. She did not want to get into the process of election as it would take a toll on the efforts that are being put in place now for organizational structure.

May 20 Lok Sabha polls

Both these seats will go to polls on May 20th, in the fifth round of the seven-phase general elections.

These two seats are most watched out for as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is gunning for these seats too.

Time and again senior leaders of BJP have criticized the Gandhis for not declaring the candidates for these two seats. Their criticism was followed by speculations in the media over these two seats.