Wayanadu will be represented by Rahul Gandhi: Confirms AK Antony

New Delhi : Rahul Gandhi will contest in the coming Lok Sabha elections from Wayanadu , Kerala, senior party leader AK Anthony announced this morning.

It was already declared that he is contesting in family stronghold Amethi. This is the first time Mr Gandhi is contesting from a second seat. Mr Gandhi’s mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, had trounced Sushma Swaraj in Karnataka’s Bellary in 1999.

Amethi was the other seat she contested. His grandmother Indira Gandhi had contested from Raebareli and Medak – currently in Telangana – in 1980.

The Congress decision triggered multiple jibes from the BJP. Union minister Smiti Irani, who would be contesting against Mr Gandhi for the second time from Amethi, tweeted that the constituency “drove him away”.

“Similar allegations could have been made when Narendra Modi left Gujarat,” said senior party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala. “The BJP minister (Smriti Irani) earlier lost from both Amethi and Chandni Chowk (in Delhi). Now, she is prepped up for losing again in Amethi.”  Congress spokesperson has said.

Mr Gandhi has been representing Amethi since 2004, but his winning margin has hugely shrunk in 2014. In the 2017 assembly elections, the Congress lost four of the five assembly segments that fall under the Lok Sabha seat.

The party had said its southern units felt that it would boost their prospects if Mr Gandhi contested from the south as well.

“considers Amethi a part of the family”. But this is a fight against those forces who “seek to divide India based on colour, language, based on way of life, based on food habits and based on the clothes you wear, and that’s why Rahul Gandhi said “I will represent Amethi but I will also represent the southern states for they are an important part of India’s way of life and India’ way forward’.

Voting in Wayanadu is on April 23 and Amethi on May 6 and the results of the entire election will be out on 23rd May.

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