Decode Politics: Why Rahul Gandhi gave up Wayanad, retained Rae Bareli, as Priyanka is set for poll debut

The Congress on Monday announced that Rahul Gandhi wouldretain his seat in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and give up Wayanad in Kerala where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, his sister, will make her electoral debut. The announcement came after Congress’ top leadership on Monday held discussions at Kharge’s residence.

“You are now going to have two MPs, I will keep visiting,” Rahul said in a message to the people of Wayanad. “The people of Wayanad gave me support, the energy to fight at a very difficult time.” Priyanka said, “I won’t let the people of Wayanad feel Rahul’s absence. I will work hard, try my best to make everyone happy in Wayanad, be a good representative.”

In the recently concluded parliamentary elections, the Congress made a comeback in UP where the party lost all seats in 2019, including Amethi where Rahul was defeated by Smriti Irani. The party was at its lowest in 2019 in UP when its vote share was 6.36% in the state. In 2014, the party won two seats, Rae Bareli and Amethi, and its vote share was 7.53%. However, this time around when the party contested just 17 seats and left the rest for its INDIA bloc allies, it managed to win six and despite contesting the limited number of seats, its vote share increased to 9.46%.

With the positive result from the state which has maximum representation in the Lower House of Parliament, the party would like to send a message that Rahul is not abandoning the seat and state that gave him and the party a good result in the elections.

Another factor is that with the positive result for the Congress and the SP in UP, the mood in the state seems to be against the BJP. The party managed to win just 33 seats, coming down from 62 in 2019. It had won 71 in 2014. In