The Congress’s central election committee (CEC) will sit down on Saturday evening and is likely to finalise candidates for the remaining Lok Sabha seats, including Amethi and Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress has so far announced candidates for 317 Lok Sabha seats.
In context: As Neerja Chowdhury wrote in her recent column, the vacuum caused by the lack of clarity about who the Congress candidates will be from the traditional seats “and, other than Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi, their cousin has been drawn into it. For, there is buzz that Varun Gandhi, who was denied a ticket by the BJP from his seat Pilibhit, and is currently in the political cold, may have got a feeler to test the waters in Rae Bareli.”
Chowdhury wrote that it was not confirmed if Priyanka would contest from Raebareli, thus making her electoral debut, or whether even Rahul Gandhi would stand from Amethi after the 2019 loss to Smriti Irani. “Congress circles say the siblings are under ‘enormous pressure’ from party workers to contest,” she added.
UP is symbolically important as of India’s 14 PMs eight have been from the state. Giving up Amethi and Raebareli will be difficult for the Gandhi siblings as it will sever their link to the state that has been associated with their family for decades.
Sunita Kejriwal to hit the streets
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita will campaign for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha polls. She will begin her campaign with a roadshow in the East Delhi constituency on Saturday evening.
Sunita Kejriwal is slowly emerging out of the shadows to assume a bigger role to give a boost to the AAP’s campaign, which has been affected by the CM’s arrest in a money laundering case. Kejriwal, arrested last month, is in judicial custody that has been extended till May 7.
The AAP, which is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Congress in Delhi, has fielded its candidates in East Delhi, West Delhi, South Delhi and New Delhi seats. The Congress has fielded its candidates in North-East Delhi, North-West Delhi, and Chandni Chowk.
In campaign news
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Goa on Saturday to attend a public meeting near BITS Pilani in Mormuga. Earlier this week, the PM targeted the Congress’s South Goa candidate Viriato Fernandes for saying that the Constitution had been “imposed” on Goa. Fernandes has said he “spoke about safeguarding Goa’s identity”.
Modi is expected to bring up the matter again and take aim at the Congress and Fernandes.
Recommended reading: Decode Politics | Goa Congress candidate caught in row a Kargil War medal winner
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath on Saturday will address rallies in Hathras, Firozabad, and Etawah, while Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will campaign in Kannauj, where is now in the fray. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to hold a roadshow in Mangaluru and campaign there.
