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Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai on Saturday said the State unit has unanimously demanded that members of the Gandhi family contest the Lok Sabha election from Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Rai said, “We (State Election Committee) had earlier unanimously passed a resolution for the candidature [of members] from the Gandhi family in Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and our stand remains the same. We want both these seats to be contested by the Gandhi family.” He said the party’s Central Election Committee, however, has to take the decision.
Mr. Rai, who is contesting from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said voters in Uttar Pradesh are fed up with the misrule of the BJP and trends from western Uttar Pradesh in the initial two phases of the election validate it. “Common voters are eager to overthrow the ruling BJP. The misrule and anti-poor policies of the saffron party led to exploitation of the people,” he said.
Mr. Rai, a close aide of the Gandhi family, said the Gandhis must contest the Amethi and Rae Bareli seats as they share an emotional bond with the constituencies.
“I had visited Rae Bareli and Amethi, the mood of the public is in favour of the Congress. These constituencies share an emotional bond with the Gandhi family. In Amethi, people are eager to correct the mistake of 2019. both Rahul ji and Priyanka ji must contest,” he told The Hindu, adding that it is his “personal opinion”.
Mr. Rai, who spent early part of his political career in the BJP and got elected as an MLA from the Kolasla assembly segment in 1996, 2002 and 2007, joined the Congress before the 2012 Assembly election. Last March, he symbolically dedicated his house in Varanasi to Mr. Gandhi who was asked to vacate his official accommodation in New Delhi after being disqualified as a Lok Sabha member following his conviction by a Surat court in a criminal defamation case. The disqualification was later overturned.
