BJP's ‘minority' jibe amid Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha re-election bid from Wayanad
There is speculation that Rahul Gandhi may also fight from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday reacted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's decision to re-contest from Kerala's Wayanad in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Former union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned why Gandhi was not contesting elections from Amethi.
He also alleged that Gandhi is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad due to the Congres party's dependence on minority politics.
“He (Rahul Gandhi) claims that the entire nation is in Congress' favour then why he is not contesting elections from Amethi?” Prasad was quoted as saying by ANI. “He went to Wayanad because the minorities are in the majority there. Congress' whole politics is dependent on minorities.”
Rahul Gandhi is set to contest from Kerala’s Wayanad seat again in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the party’s central election committee (CEC) decided on Thursday evening, people aware of developments said.
Also Read | Suspense continues over Rahul Gandhi’s candidature from Amethi
There is speculation that Gandhi may also fight from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi, a seat he won in 2004, 2009 and 2014 before losing in 2019, said the people cited above, though seats from the state were not discussed in Thursday’s meeting.
Congress CEC meeting
Besides Rahul Gandhi, the names of about 50 candidates were cleared by the Congress CEC in its first meeting on Thursday to finalise names for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s name was cleared from Thiruvananthapuram. Former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, and former deputy CM of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot, were asked to contest the polls. Both of them were present at the CEC meeting. Jyotsna Mahant’s name was cleared from Chhattisgarh.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, general secretary KC Venugopal attended the meeting while Rahul Gandhi joined the meeting via Zoom.
After the CEC meeting, Sachin Pilot said a detailed discussion was held over each seat and the decision will be announced soon. "Whichever person is in the position to win will be asked to contest," Sachin Pilot said.