Congress to name Raebareli, Amethi candidates today

New Delhi, May 1

The suspense over Congress candidates for the prestigious Amethi and Raebareli constituencies in Uttar Pradesh is set to end with the party today stating that the names would be announced on Thursday.

“The party’s central election committee (CEC) has empowered Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to take a decision, which will be announced within 24 hours,” Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday.

“Nobody is scared, no one is running away,” Ramesh said. He also refuted the charge that there has been any delay in naming candidates for the two UP constituencies.

“Has the BJP announced the name of their Raebareli candidate yet? They have announced the name of Amethi candidate because Smriti Irani is the sitting MP. We cannot rush with the names because the media wants a headline and they have a deadline,” Ramesh said.

Both seats would go to the polls in the fifth phase on May 20. The last day for filing nominations for the seats is May 3.

The Congress central election committee has recommended Rahul Gandhi’s name for Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s name for the Raebareli seat. However, the panel left it to party president Mallikarjun Kharge to take the final call on the issue.

Smriti Irani filed her nomination from Amethi on Monday, expressing confidence about a second consecutive term. Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, she said the destiny of a nation could not be decided by a man who was scared of being defeated in Amethi.