New Delhi:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written a heartfelt letter to the “sisters and brothers” of Wayanad. Rahul Gandhi resigned last week (June 18) from the Lok Sabha seat of Kerala while retaining the Raebareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh, earlier represented by his mother and veteran Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

“You must have seen the sadness in my eyes as I stood in front of the media and told you about my decision,” wrote Rahul Gandhi, pointing to the announcement on the two seats made by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on June 17. Mr Kharge was accompanied by Mr Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The Congress has decided to field her from Wayanad, the parliamentary seat that her brother won for two consecutive terms.

“Rahul Gandhi won from two Lok Saba seats but as per the law, he has to vacate one seat. Rahul Gandhi will retain Raebareli and we have decided that Priyanka ji will fight from Wayanad,” Mr Kharge told reporters after a meeting of the party’s top brass.

Expressing gratitude to the people of Wayanad for their “unbridled love and affection”, Rahul Gandhi said, “I met you five years ago. The first time I visited you I came asking for your support. I was a stranger to you and yet you believed in me.”

“When I faced abuse day after day, your unconditional love protected me. You were my refuge, my home and my family,” he added.

The former Congress chief also reminisced how “young girls would translate my speeches in front of thousands of people”.

Mr Gandhi, however, asserted that he was “consoled because my sister Priyanka will be there to represent you,” adding, “I am confident that she will do an excellent job of being your MP if you decide to give her the opportunity”.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi said it was a difficult decision for him as he has an emotional relationship with both Raebareli and Wayanad and added that both the seats “will get two MPs”.

Further thanking the people of the Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, Mr Gandhi said, “You are part of my family and I will always be there for each and every one of you.”

If Priyanka Gandhi is elected from Wayanad, it will be the first time that all three Gandhi family members – Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi – will be in Parliament together. Sonia Gandhi is now a member of the Rajya Sabha.

New Delhi:

The Congress’s decision to field Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for the bye-election in Kerala’s Wayanad marks her debut in electoral politics, but she has been part of the party’s campaigns and outreach programmes for about two decades now. Her political journey has seen her grow from a campaign face to a party organiser who works on strategy too.

Ms Gandhi Vadra holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Buddhist studies. She is married to businessman Robert Vadra and has two children — son Raihan and daughter Miraya.

The younger Gandhi sibling, often compared to her grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for her looks as well as her taste for handloom sarees, took her first step into politics in the 2004 Lok Sabha election that marked her brother Rahul’s electoral debut. Ahead of the general election that year, she campaigned for Rahul in Amethi and mother Sonia in Raebareli.

In fact, many had expected that it would be the more charismatic and articulate Priyanka who would take the political plunge before Rahul. While Rahul was seen to be a reluctant politician, many believed Priyanka was the true representative of the Nehru-Gandhi family’s political legacy. But in the 2004 polls, she remained on the sidelines. A reason cited by many is that she wanted to focus on her toddlers first before joining politics full-time.

Over the years, her role in the Congress expanded, albeit slowly. In the 2007 Uttar Pradesh elections, she focused on interacting with local leaders and tackling infighting in the Assembly segments under Amethi and Raebareli Lok Sabha seats. The Congress won 22 Assembly seats that year, three less than 2002.

Over the next decade, she would largely appear only during elections and campaign for the Congress in family strongholds. 2019 marked her formal entry into politics as the Congress appointed her general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most politically-significant state. The next year, she was named the in-charge of the whole state.

Ms Gandhi Vadra burst into political limelight during the Congress’s protest over Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which a car allegedly driven by BJP leader Ajay Mishra Teni’s son ran farmers over. She was first placed under house arrest, but she managed to evade the cops and proceed towards Lakhimpur Kheri. She was later taken into custody. The visuals of Ms Gandhi Vadra facing off with cops catapulted her from being a campaign face to a full-fledged politician who hits the streets and doesn’t back off in the face of state power.

The 2022 Uttar Pradesh election was the first big campaign she led. The Congress fought solo and its manifesto focused on youth and women empowerment. Ms Gandhi Vadra led the fight with the slogan, Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon, aimed as an outreach to women voters. The efforts, however, did not pay off and the Congress won just two seats after contesting 399 — 5 less than its 2017 tally.

The Uttar Pradesh rout was a reality check for the Congress about its dwindling strength in the key state. Addressing party workers after the election, Ms Gandhi Vadra asked them to step up their efforts to connect with the people and stressed that poll promises have no impact unless the party expanded its outreach at the grassroots.

After the party rejig in December 2023, Ms Gandhi Vadra remained a Congress general secretary, but did not hold UP’s charge. Her next big test was this year’s general election. In these polls, which saw the Congress bounce back from its 2019 score of 52 to winning 99 seats, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra played a key role in taking on the BJP and fine-tuning the party’s strategies.

From countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge on ‘mangalsutra’ to camping in family strongholds Amethi and Raebareli, she was hands-on and among the Congress’s most visible faces in its Lok Sabha poll campaign.

When the Prime Minister accused the Congress of preparing a wealth distribution plan under which women would lose their mangalsutra, Ms Gandhi Vadra came up with an emotional and spirited response — she said her grandmother Indira Gandhi had donated her mangalsutra to India’s war fund and her mother Sonia sacrificed hers for this country when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.

In Uttar Pradesh, especially Amethi and Raebareli, she steered the Congress campaign as Rahul Gandhi travelled across the country for rallies. The results were impressive. The Congress won both strongholds, with Gandhi family loyalist KL Sharma pulling off a stunning win over BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi. The Congress won 6 seats in UP. Ms Gandhi Vadra was also the party’s voice in multiple TV interviews in which she countered the BJP’s attacks and articulated her party’s position.

With Rahul Gandhi deciding to vacate the Wayanad seat and the Congress fielding Priyanka Gandhi from there, the Parliament may just get another charismatic leader who will make the Opposition’s arguments more forceful.

New Delhi:

Polling for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election began today with voting taking place in 49 seats across six states and the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. States where voting will take place are Uttar Pradesh (14), Maharashtra (13), Bengal (7), Odisha and Bihar (5), and Jharkhand (3), as also one seat each in J&K and Ladakh. In addition, 35 Assembly seats in Odisha will also vote.

This will be the smallest of the seven phases in this election but will still feature some big names, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who will contest from the family stronghold of Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh – won in the past five elections by his mother Sonia Gandhi. This will be his second contest this election; he fought from Kerala’s Wayanad, which voted April 26. He won the seat last year, allowing him to remain a MP after a shock defeat to the BJP’s Smriti Irani in UP’s other Congress bastion, Amethi.

READ | Called “Gandhis’ Chaprasi” By BJP Leader, Congress’s Amethi Pick Says

Amethi will also vote today, with senior Congress leader Kishori Lal Sharma looking to win back the seat. Mr Sharma, seen by many as a second-choice candidate after Rahul Gandhi’s sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, declined another invitation to make her electoral debut.

READ | Rahul Gandhi Files Papers From Raebareli, Gandhis Opt Out Of Amethi

Smriti Irani will attempt to defend her Amethi seat in this election.

The suspense over who from the Congress would contest these two (very) high-profile seats was among the biggest headlines leading up to this phase of the election, with even party boss Mallikarjun Kharge leaving the decision up to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is also on the ballot.

He contests from Lucknow and is aiming for a hat-trick, with the Samajwadi Party’s Ravidas Mehrotra his big rival. The SP is part of the INDIA bloc and has been backed in this campaign by the Congress.

Kaiserganj has also become a headline seat as it was the constituency of ex-national wrestling body chief Brij Bhushan Singh, who was dropped after the BJP came under heavy pressure over allegations of sexual assault against him. His son, instead, has been fielded.

READ | Like My Father, Will Be There For You: Brij Bhushan’s Son To Voters

Away from UP, the six Lok Sabha seats of Mumbai are also voting in this phase. 

Maharashtra politics has seen a series of swings and U-turns since the 2019 state election, which saw the Shiv Sena and the BJP part ways, and the latter form an unlikely alliance with the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party.

However, since then both the Sena and the NCP have gone through civil wars and seen rebel factions join the BJP (and being rewarded with a chief minister and deputy chief minister’s post), leading to a controversial change of government and strengthening of the BJP’s hand for this election.

Mumbai’s six seats have been divided amongst the two big alliances at play in this election – the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance and the Congress-led INDIA bloc.

The big names on the ballots in Indian’s financial capital include Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who will contest from Mumbai (North) against the Congress’ Bhushan Patil. 

Mumbai’s North-West, South-Central, and South seats will see grudge matches, with the original Sena (led by ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray) against those from the breakaway group (led by the current chief minister, Eknath Shinde). North-East seat will be a BJP vs Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) battle and it is the BJP vs the Congress for the North-Central seat.

In the 2019 election, the BJP and the (then) undivided Shiv Sena swept all six seats.

Other major seats in Maharashtra voting in this phase are Nashik and Palghar. 

Eknath Shinde’s Sena has fielded sitting MP Hemant Godse in Nashik, and he faces Rajabhau Waje from the Thackeray camp, while Palghar sees a more open contest.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (not an INDIA member), Mr Thackeray’s Sena, the BJP, and Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi – which had prolonged and ultimately fruitless and acrimonious talks with the Sena-Congress-NCP alliance – all fielding candidates. 

In Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter, Rohini Acharya, is looking to win back the Saran seat that was won by the ex-Chief Minister in 2009, in the first election after it was formed.

READ | Lalu Yadav’s Daughter Rohini Acharya Against Father’s Namesake In Saran

Since then, though, it has been held by the BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy. Another high-profile contest in the state is in Hajipur, which was the stronghold of late Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Mr Paswan’s son, Chirag Paswan is leading one of the factions of the LJP that broke up after his death and has allied with the BJP. He faces Shiv Chandra Ram, a trusted aide of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Ladakh, which saw a hunger fast by climate activist and environmental reformer Sonam Wangchuk in March over demands for statehood and protection of the fragile Himalayan ecology, sees a BJP vs Congress fight between Tashi Gyalsan and Tsering Namgyal.

J&K’s Baramulla seat is also voting. It will see ex-Chief Minister and National Conference boss Omar Abdullah looking to defend the seat won by Mohammad Akbar Lone in the last election.

READ | “J&K Faces Existential Threat”: Omar Abdullah On Article 370 Scrapping

He faces Sajjid Gani Lone of the Jammu and Kashmir’s People’s Conference and Fayaz Mir of the People’s Democratic Party, led by ex-Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

The Congress and parties now with the INDIA bloc won nine of these 49 seats last time.

The BJP won 39 and will be hoping for a similarly emphatic result this time as it bids to achieve its target of 370 seats on its own and 400 with its NDA partners.

The sixth and seventh phases will take place on May 25 (when Delhi will vote) and June 1 (when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest from Varanasi in UP).

Results will be out on June 4.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

New Delhi:

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi took on the Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Thursday after she accused the Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP of “working directly with the Bharatiya Janata Party” and helping the ruling outfit by splitting votes in key constituencies. 

Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s shock 2019 defeat – he lost the Congress bastion of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to senior BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani – Mr Owaisi pointed out neither his party nor he had been involved in that fight. He also attacked the Congress over “non-secular alliances” – with ex-Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s (then undivided) Shiv Sena, which he linked to the Babri Masjid demolition in UP’s Ayodhya.

“Priyanka Gandhi Vadra… your brother lost Amethi. Did I come and fight there? In Maharashtra, you have an alliance with Uddhav Thackeray. Is he secular? This is the same Shiv Sena whose workers, on December 6, destroyed the Babri Masjid. Are you with them?”

“You are allied with the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi… the same AAP that helped BJP remove Article 370 in J&K… and you call us ‘BJP B-team’?” Mr Owaisi said at a public meeting.

“In the 2019 election you lost 92 per cent of the seats in which you were competing against the BJP. This time you are fighting 300 seats… tell me, how many do you think you will win?”

Mr Owaisi’s sharp response came after Priyanka Gandhi, while campaigning in UP’s Raebareli, another Congress bastion, attacked the AIMIM leader for working with the BJP.

“I am telling you again and again. Asaduddin Owaisi is working directly with the BJP. Wherever the BJP needs him to field someone to push back other parties, he is doing it. It has become very clear in Telangana elections,” she told reporters.

In the run-up to the May 13 election for Telangana’s 17 Lok Sabha seats, including the Hyderabad seat that has been held by Mr Owaisi’s father and then himself since 1984, the Congress has frequently accused the AIMIM of being the BJP’s ‘B-team’.

The charge was firmly rubbished by Mr Owaisi’s brother, Akbaruddin Owaisi, last month. “Some are saying AIMIM is with that team, some are saying it is with the other team. But what I am saying is that AIMIM will be where it has always been,” he said at a poll rally.

She may not be the candidate, but senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is leading from the front when it comes to the party’s campaign in two prestige seats in Uttar Pradesh – Amethi and Raebareli. While her brother Rahul Gandhi is the candidate from Raebareli, Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma is the party’s pick for the Amethi seat.

Ms Gandhi Vadra is scheduled to hold as many as nine nukkad sabhas today to mark the beginning of a whirlwind outreach campaign. The 52-year-old leader reached Raebareli on Monday and held marathon meetings with local Congress leaders in the Bhuemau guesthouse over the past two days.

In a meeting on Monday, Ms Gandhi Vadra is learnt to have told Congress workers that she “will not move from Raebareli till May 18”. Both Raebareli and Amethi vote in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls on May 20.

“We have to fight Amethi and Raebareli strongly. Now, your 24 hours in a day belong to me. I will scold you, make you run, but stand strongly with you. The doors of my home are open for you round the clock. This election is an election to save the Constitution. The BJP wants to take away reservation benefits from you,” Ms Gandhi Vadra told the meeting, according to Congress workers.

Since its first Lok Sabha election in 1952, the Congress has lost Raebareli just thrice — in the post Emergency election in 1977 and in 1996 and 1998 elections. Veteran Congress leader Sonia Gandhi managed to win the seat despite a wave is support of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2014 and 2019 election. Mrs Gandhi has now moved to the Rajya Sabha owing to health issues. This time, the party has chosen to field Rahul Gandhi from its traditional stronghold that has been represented by Feroze Gandhi and Indira Gandhi in the past. He is up against Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh, who lost to Mrs Gandhi in the 2019 election by over 1.67 lakh votes.

In Amethi, the Congress faces a tougher fight. The seat, which has been represented by Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the past, was won by Rahul Gandhi thrice in a row before he was defeated by the BJP’s Smriti Irani in the 2019 election. Ms Irani, a Union minister, is the BJP’s candidate this time and has been campaigning extensively much before the Congress announced its candidate. The BJP leader has said she is confident of a win this time too. “The fact that the Gandhis are not fighting in Amethi shows that even before a vote has been cast, they are losing from Amethi. If they had seen even a glimmer of hope, they would have contested and not put up a proxy candidate,” Ms Irani told reporters after the Congress announced Mr Sharma as its candidate.

The grassroots leader, who has worked in Amethi and Raebareli as an MP’s representative before, has said he wants an opportunity to serve the people of Amethi. “The people of Amethi are in my heart. I have been here for 40 years. I am following the direction of the top leadership. I just want people to give me a chance to serve them,” Mr Sharma has said.

New Delhi:

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra urged people on Tuesday to vote in large numbers in the third phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, asserting that this is an election to protect democracy and the Constitution.

Voting is being held in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union territories in the third phase of the parliamentary polls.

In a post in Hindi on X, Priyanka Gandhi said, “Dear people of the country, this election is an election to protect democracy and the Constitution of the country. This is an election to defeat historic unemployment, rampant inflation, institutional corruption and economic crisis.” “Every single vote is important. Vote after giving it a deep thought and in large numbers, using your discretion. Vote for the future of you and your children,” the Congress general secretary said.

More than 1,300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray in the third phase of the election. As many as 17.24 crore people, including 8.39 crore women, are eligible to vote in this phase and 1.85 lakh polling stations manned by 18.5 lakh officials have been set up. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Congress’s announcement of candidates for its two prestige seats, Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, has effectively put the lid on speculation regarding senior party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s electoral debut.

According to sources in the party, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had requested Ms Gandhi Vadra to contest from Amethi or Rae Bareli, but she refused. Behind her reluctance, sources said, was the fact that a victory for her and her brother Rahul Gandhi would put three members of the Gandhi family in Parliament — mother Sonia Gandhi is now in Rajya Sabha. This would reinforce the BJP’s charge of dynastic politics, she reasoned, according to sources in the party.

Some leaders, however, fear that her decision may create a negative perception among voters. Ms Gandhi Vadra has been campaigning extensively and has been the face of the Congress’s counterstrike after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘mangalsutra’ charge at the Grand Old party. Many feel that the Congress could have benefited from her star power if she contested the polls.

The Congress’s much-awaited decision on these two seats came early this morning. A big surprise was Rahul Gandhi being fielded from Rae Bareli, and not Amethi, which he has represented thrice in Lok Sabha. For Amethi, the Congress chose Kishori Lal Sharma, a long-time loyalist of the Gandhis. Mr Sharma, who has earlier worked as Sonia Gandhi’s representative in Rae Bareli, will be contesting his first election.

Both Rahul Gandhi, who is also contesting from Kerala’s Wayanad, and Mr Sharma will be filing their nomination today. Amethi and Rae Bareli will vote in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls on May 20.

Mr Gandhi will take on the BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh in Rae Bareli and Mr Sharma is up against Union Minister Smriti Irani in Amethi. Ms Irani had scored a shock win against Mr Gandhi in the 2019 polls and has been campaigning extensively in the constituency.

Congress leaders are confident that Mr Gandhi will post a thumping win in Rae Bareli. For Amethi, they say that Mr Sharma is a grassroots leader who will perform well.

The BJP has taken a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over the Congress’s move to switch him from Amethi to Rae Bareli.

Party spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said the Congress is now “addicted to daydreaming”. “Rahul Gandhi’s decision to not contest in Amethi shows that the Congress campaigns lacks confidence. Instead of leading the fight like a responsible general, he is behaving like a runaway soldier,” he said.

Morena (MP):

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said her party was founded on the tenets of Hinduism, the cornerstone of which was truth.

Addressing a Lok Sabha poll rally in Morena in Madhya Pradesh, she said the ruling dispensation was using religion to garner votes.

“Our tradition is of mahatmas (saints). Our (Congress’) political foundation was laid by Mahatma Gandhi, who fought the British. Congress is based on what the Hindu religion teaches. Mahatma Gandhi taught us to walk on the path of truth,” she said.

India attained Independence due to this truth and the religion of the party that is in power must be service to the nation and its people, she asserted.

“This is our tradition. But in the last 10 years you have garnered votes in the name of religion to stay in power,” she said in a swipe at the BJP.

Asserting that every citizen was religious, the Congress leader said her grandmother Indira Gandhi taught her how to do puja, adding that she went to the temple with her father late Rajiv Gandhi.

“My mother (Sonia Gandhi) learnt these traditions from the country. She taught me what Hindu religion is. Hindu religion is the truth. The country’s motto is Satyamev Jayate (truth alone triumphs). We know it by heart,” she asserted.

Ms Gandhi said the ruling dispensation was “playing with” citizens.

“The prime minister says the Congress is going to steal your mangalsutras (a reference to the BJP’s allegation of Congress wanting to redistribute wealth). This is unbelievable. The Congress was in power for 55 years. Did it steal your gold or mangalsutras,” she asked the gathering.

Ms Gandhi said she had visited Korba (in neighbouring BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh) where land of the poor had been handed over for coal mining.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Congress Party leader Jairam Ramesh. File
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on May 1 said that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge will finalise the candidates for the Rae Bareli and Amethi Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and the announcement will be made soon.

While addressing a press conference at AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday, Mr. Ramesh said, “CEC has authorized the Congress President for Rae Bareli and Amethi and he will take the decision soon and you will know officially in the next 24 to 30 hours.”

Congress held a Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting earlier on April 27 to discuss the candidates for the remaining seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said that a proposal was given from the UP Congress to the CEC that the Gandhi family should contest the Amethi and Raibareli seats and the decision was left to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. Rahul Gandhi lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi in the 2019 elections.

Ms. Irani has already filed her nomination papers for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat. “It is an absolute honour that BJP and the senior leaders of the party have given me the support for my candidature from Amethi. Because of the positive contribution of PM Modi towards Amethi, in the last 5 years in Amethi, 1.14 lakh homes, 4 lakh toilets, 3.5 lakh water connections were provided and 1.5 lakh families received electricity connections…There are many works that PM Modi has helped deliver to the people of Amethi,” she said.

On being asked about Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s candidature from Amethi and Raebareli, she said that she can contest against anybody only if there is a candidate against her. “I don’t have a candidate against me, I can only contest if there is a candidate against me, ” she said.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi is vying for a second term in Parliament from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, having secured a significant victory there during the 2019 elections. So far, the Congress has announced 308 candidates for the seven-phase Lok Sabha election that got underway on April 19.

New Delhi:

Union minister Smriti Irani, who unseated Congress’s Rahul Gandhi from his family turf Amethi in 2019, scoffed at the Congress delay in naming its candidate from the constituency. The minister, who filed her nomination today to defend the VIP constituency from Uttar Pradesh, also declared that no matter whom the Congress fields, the candidate will lose.

“I think the Congress has clearly its role cut out for itself in Amethi. The leadership is aware that this is a losing seat for them because if they were so confident of their victory, they would have announced their candidate by now,” she told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Speculation has been sky-high about the Congress candidates for Amethi and Raebareli — vacated recently by Sonia Gandhi who moved onto Rajya Sabha — especially after the election in Kerala took place on April 26. Mr Gandhi’s constituency, Wayanad, is located in the state and there was a buzz that the Congress would announce its candidate once the Kerala polls were over.

There is expectation among the Congress’s rank and file that Mr Gandhi would make an attempt to win back Amethi while his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, would step into her mother’s shoes in Raebareli. There are those, though, who expect the party might flip the constituencies.

Asked whom she would prefer as opponent between Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Ms Irani said, “Couldn’t care less. Whoever comes will be defeated surely, because both these entities have been absentee politicians from the area. One has been an MP, missing for 15 years. I have worked for five years, two years of which were corona,” she said.

Talking about the tough time the constituency had passed through during the pandemic, she said, “When you talk about corona, people wonder why they (the Gandhis) were not around to help anyone in Amethi and Raebareli for that matter”.

The people, she added, “realise if it was not for Prime Minister’s benevolence in ensuring every citizen gets free ration, many people would have faced much difficulty”.

“They also understand that if not Prime Minister Modi, nobody would have ensured that three vaccines were made available to anyone,” she added.