Will they or won’t they? Rahul, Priyanka keep Congress guessing on Amethi, Raebareli

In 2019, the Congress’s first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections — 11 from Uttar Pradesh and four from Gujarat — featured both Amethi and Raebareli. Sonia Gandhi and then Congress president Rahul Gandhi contested from their family’s traditional bastions, with the former winning and the latter losing to the BJP’s Smriti Irani. Perhaps aware that his position in Amethi was shaky, Rahul, in a surprise move, also entered the fray from Wayanad in Kerala, a constituency he currently represents.

Cut to 2024. Sonia has decided against contesting from Raebareli, moving to the Rajya Sabha, and the party announced Rahul’s candidature from Wayanad on March 8 in its first list of 39 candidates. But almost a month and 12 lists later, there is still uncertainty, or as some in the party say, a “strategic silence” on whether Rahul and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will contest from Amethi and Raebareli respectively to keep alive their family’s connection with Uttar Pradesh, or not. With Priyanka by his side, Rahul will file his nomination papers from Wayanad on Wednesday.

Congress leaders say there is still a lot of time to decide. Amethi and Raebareli go to polls on May 20 in the fifth phase and the last date for filing nominations is May 3. But, interestingly, the party has announced candidates in seats such as Maharajganj, Deoria, Bansgaon, and Varanasi that vote in the last phase on June 1. Apart from Amethi and Raebareli, the Congress has also yet to announce candidates for Prayagraj and Mathura.

While in the case of others, it is the Congress’s Central Election Committee that takes a call on candidates — generally a decision gets delayed when there is more than one strong claimant — senior Congress leaders say without