Amid criticism that the Congress had given a walkover to Irani in Amethi, sources said, the party in its wisdom believed that Rae Bareli's historical, emotional and electoral importance for the Gandhi family was higher than that of Amethi.
Ending days of suspense, the Congress on Friday announced that Rahul Gandhi will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli, the constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades, and Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, will fight from Amethi.
Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, the party said in a statement.
Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi are likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli and Amethi seats, respectively, sources said on Thursday.
Sources said Rahul Gandhi is likely to contest from Rae Bareli, but a final call is yet to be taken by the first family of the Congress.
In a culture where children take up the profession of their father, her becoming a politician was seen as natural and acceptable.
The message to the voters comes a day after the former Congress president filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat from Rajasthan.
The Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, where Rahul Gandhi won for the second time in a row, comprises three assembly constituencies each in the tribal district of Wayanad and the Muslim-dominated Malappuram, as well as one in Kozhikode district where Christians hold a significant vote base.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will have to resign within two weeks from one of the two seats he won in the just-held Lok Sabha elections, a constitutional expert said citing provisions in the law as well as the Constitution.
Ayodhya resonated with devotional fervour on Tuesday morning as thousands of devotees streamed into the temple town ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to ceremonially hoist a saffron flag atop the Ram temple, marking the formal completion of its construction.
The national capital was in the grip of a cold wave, with the sun largely obscured by clouds and pollutants lingering in the atmosphere, leading to reduced visibility. At least 129 flights were cancelled at the Delhi airport on Saturday due to dense fog, according to an official.
Kharge claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are "put on the lap" and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers in Jaipur for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan.
A number of high-profile electoral battles, starring veterans and debutants, formidable opponents and unlikely contestants, feature in Tuesday's outcome.
"I am going to Raghopur to get feedback from the people of the constituency, which wants an end to the supremacy of one family. Before Tejashwi Yadav, a second-term MLA, his father Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi had represented that seat. Yet, it is crying for basic amenities," alleged Kishor.
Modi said that Congress' tally in the Lok Sabha polls will be an "all-time low"
The ruling party appears to have worked to a plan, beginning with the weaning away of Congress MLC and MLAs.
Party sources said no date has been finalised and she will visit her constituency as early as possible.\n\n
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of halting military conflict with Pakistan within five hours of being asked by then US President Donald Trump. He made the allegations during a rally in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, also criticizing the media and the deletion of names from electoral rolls.
In a letter addressed to the people of Rae Bareli, the Congress leader also thanked the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which did not field any candidate against her.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held the core group meeting of five states on Saturday at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday set at rest speculation that Uma Bharti could be fielded against Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli after the firebrand leader asserted that she "cannot leave my Jhansi" from where she has already been nominated.
Shah said before the Yogi Adityanath dispensation assumed office, Uttar Pradesh was known for 'goonda raj' and bad law and order. '...Yogi government has established rule of law,' he said.
However, Bajpai ruled out any possibility of an epic battle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections between Sonia Gandhi and Arun Jaitley.
Voters in Rae Bareli said they feel an emotional connection with the Gandhi family.
On the concluding day of her visit to her mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency Rae Bareli, Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday met party workers and discussed ways and means to strengthen the organisation. She met party workers of Sadar and Uchahar blocks and discussed at length ways and means to revamp the party in Rae Bareli.
Here is the timeline of the Emergency that lasted for 21 months, which is considered as the darkest period in the history of Independent India.
Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akilesh will hold a cycle yatra in the constituency.
This followed a revision petition by six BJP and VHP leaders.
Amid this unrest came the verdict of the Allahabad high court on June 12, 1975 that found Gandhi guilty over discrepancies in the electoral campaign, which led to the Emergency on the night of June 25.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will take stock of development works in her constituency Rae Bareli on Friday.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi begins a three-day tour of her constituency Rae Bareli on Monday during which she will inaugurate a slew of development programmes.
The Congress, which managed to get 105 of the 403 seats under the seat-sharing deal with the SP after hard negotiations, is in no mood to give up its claim over all the ten seats in Amethi-Rae Bareli.
The EC, while ordering that VIPs getting security from the state government leave the constituency after the campaign, said the order did not apply to candidates and their agents.
The first day of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's three-day visit to Rae Bareli, her parliamentary constituency, was devoted to Dalits and Muslims. She visited several villages on Monday and took stock of implementation of various centrally-sponsored schemes.
Shah's rally and other events will be attended by party workers from neighbouring constituencies, including Amethi.
With Lok Sabha elections knocking on the doors, United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi appear to have suddenly woken up to the need to develop their respective constituencies -- Amethi and Rae Bareli.
10 women and six minors are among the injured, the officials said.
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