Congress meet today, buzz on Rahul Gandhi from Amethi, Priyanka Vadra Rae Bareli

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, March 6

The buzz around the Gandhi family and its key players is back on the eve of the 18th General Election with possibilities of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi recontesting from Amethi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra making a Lok Sabha poll debut from Rae Bareli, the seat her mother Sonia Gandhi recently vacated for a Rajya Sabha berth.

BJP may not field both Maneka, Varun

• BJP is yet to name candidates for Rae Bareli, Sultanpur, Pilibhit, currently represented by Sonia Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi
• Varun Gandhi, who had been on a defiance mode for long, has tempered his utterances of late
• BJP is unlikely to field both Maneka and Varun this time, say sources

Ahead of the Congress Central Election Committee meeting tomorrow, party circles were rife with talk that the Gandhi siblings could make an attempt to retain and reclaim traditional bastions and they were the best bets the Congress had for the two VIP segments. Although central Congress leaders did not confirm anything, Pradeep Singhal, Congress party’s Amethi district chief on Wednesday said Rahul Gandhi would be the party’s candidate from Amethi and his name would be announced soon. The BJP has again fielded sitting MP Smriti Irani from Amethi. The name of Priyanka from Rae Bareli has been doing the rounds ever since Sonia Gandhi in her farewell message to constituents of the segment wrote, “I trust you to stand by my family just as you have all these years.” On the BJP side, too, sources have been speculating on the future of their own Gandhis — Maneka and son Varun, who currently represent Sultanpur and Pilibhit, respectively. The mother and son had swapped their seats in 2019 sensing a tight race for Varun, who had won from Sultanpur in 2014.

Sources said Varun, who had long been on a defiance mode against the BJP, has of late tempered his utterances. It was unlikely for the BJP to field both Maneka and Varun this time, the sources added.

“It remains to be seen if Maneka Gandhi will step aside for her son the way Sonia Gandhi has retired,” a BJP leader said, adding that Varun’s future plans were still unclear although his anti-BJP pitch softened after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave Maneka Gandhi a chance to speak at the farewell event of the old Parliament building in September 2023. Maneka, the senior-most MP in the 17th Lok Sabha (eight terms), reciprocated by showering generous praises on the PM.

The BJP has been cultivating Rae Bareli Sadar MLA Aditi Singh, the daughter of late Congress stalwart Akhilesh Singh.

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