The Congress has finally ended the suspense over its candidatures in two of the most keenly contested constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, fielding Rahul Gandhi from the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat, vacated by his mother Sonia Gandhi, and Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Smriti Irani.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi addresses a public meeting in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls in Shimoga, Karnataka. (PTI Photo)
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All India Congress Committee general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is likely to arrive in Amethi to accompany Sharma for the filing of nomination papers, and later accompany Rahul Gandhi in Rae Bareli.
The Congress has made elaborate preparations to hold roadshows in both constituencies. Sharma had addressed meetings of party workers in Rae Bareli and Amethi. Congress’ legal team has also visited both the constituencies to give final touches to the preparations.
The BJP had on Thursday declared Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh as its candidate from Rae Bareli.
Union minister Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019 in Amethi.
Umesh Raghuvanshi is an award-winning journalist with nearly four decades of demonstrated experience in the profession. He is the author of Ayodhya: The Gods Are Liberated. He is skilled in storytelling and newswriting, and writes on politics, governance, legislature, finance, environment, and social issues. He is based in Lucknow, is well-travelled, and has covered several national and international events, as well as all assembly and parliament elections in Uttar Pradesh since 1984. He has been a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, USA, and a Metcalf Fellow at the Metcalf Institute of Marine and Environmental Reporting, University of Rhode Island, USA. He is a science graduate from DBS College, Dehradun, and holds an MA in Political Science from DAV (PG) College, Dehradun. He won the KC Kulish International Merit Award for excellence in journalism (2015) and received it in New Delhi in 2017. He also won a competition organised by the United Nations Environment Programme DTIE OzonAction Programme in 2009 that assessed coverage of the interlinkages between ozone and climate change. He was awarded in Beijing, China, in 2010. He started his career with a Dehradun-based English daily in the early 1980s and later worked with The Pioneer too.
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