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.
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.
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.
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.
The message to the voters comes a day after the former Congress president filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat from Rajasthan.
Party sources said no date has been finalised and she will visit her constituency as early as possible.\n\n
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ruling party appears to have worked to a plan, beginning with the weaning away of Congress MLC and MLAs.
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.
However, Bajpai ruled out any possibility of an epic battle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections between Sonia Gandhi and Arun Jaitley.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers in Jaipur for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan.
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.
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.
Voters in Rae Bareli said they feel an emotional connection with the Gandhi family.
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.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Tuesday arrived in Rae Bareli, on her first visit to the constituency she had resigned as member of Parliament, to a rapturous welcome from her supporters and party activists.
Gandhi will tour all the Assembly segments of the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency during the two days.
A number of high-profile electoral battles, starring veterans and debutants, formidable opponents and unlikely contestants, feature in Tuesday's outcome.
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.
While Sonia had expressed her intention to inaugurate the bridge, for which Rs 30 crore was given out of the Central Road Fund at her personal behest, Mayawati got her Public Works Department minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui to go ahead with the inauguration, 100 km away from the site of the bridge, in state capital Lucknow itself, 24 hours ahead of schedule on Wednesday afternoon.
Fielding of candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli was one of the issues of contention between Congress and Samajwadi Party during their talks to forge the pre-poll alliance.
Shah's rally and other events will be attended by party workers from neighbouring constituencies, including Amethi.
When the results for the Rae Bareli assembly seat came in on March 11, Aditi Singh (Congress) had won 128,319 votes, Mohammad Shabaz Khan of the BSP had won 39,156 votes and the BJP's Anit Srivastava had won 28,821 votes. It was a stunning victory for the US-educated rookie Congress candidate.
The electrification project will be the first big project promised by the Congress president in her election campaign.
Priyanka also lauded her mother, calling her the bravest woman for overcoming huge difficulties during her record 19-year tenure as the Congress chief.
10 women and six minors are among the injured, the officials said.
Modi said that Congress' tally in the Lok Sabha polls will be an "all-time low"
Four Independent candidates withdrew their names on Monday.
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