Party to decide which seat to retain at appropriate time: KC Venugopal on Rahul Gandhi’s Raebareli contest
Thiruvananthapuram: After Rahul Gandhi decided to contest the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh besides seeking re-election from Wayanad in Kerala, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal on Friday said the party will decide at the appropriate time which seat to retain.
Wayanad went to polls on April 26 in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls.
“The party requested Rahul to contest from Raebareli and he agreed. For us, Raebareli, Amethi, and Wayanad seats are all dear. Raebareli is the seat which was held by Indira Gandhi and till recently it was held by Sonia Gandhi. At the appropriate time, the party will decide which seat he will retain. The decision when taken will not affect anyone,” said Venugopal.
The decision by the Congress party came on the last day for filing nominations to the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat.
Sonia Gandhi was the last Congress MP from the seat before deciding to move to the Rajya Sabha.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi contested from his then-sitting seat Amethi but lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani. He, however, won from the Wayanad seat with a staggering margin of over 4.37 lakh votes.