Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has a tough choice to make!
Rahul Gandhi, who has won from two constituencies—Wayanad in Kerala and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh—has to forego one seat, disappointing people who reposed faith in him and elected him to be their representative in the Parliament.
The Congress leader won with a huge margin of over 3.64 lakh votes against his nearest rival Annie Raja of the CPI in Wayanad. In Rae Bareli too, Rahul Gandhi beat his BJP rival Dinesh Pratap Singh by a margin of 3.90 lakh votes. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections too, Rahul Gandhi won the Wayanad seat with a margin of 4.31 lakh votes.
Rahul Gandhi remained non-committal when asked which seat he prefers to represent in the Parliament.
"I have won from both the seats and I want to wholeheartedly thank the voters of Rae Bareli and Wayanad. Now I have to decide which seat I will stay on, will discuss and then decide. Can't hold on to both the seats, but I haven't decided yet," he had said when asked about the same.
"I am being asked whether I would remain the MP of Wayanad or Rae Bareli, I want to remain MP for both," he further said.
It is to be noted that during a public rally in Rae Bareli on May 17, former party president Sonia Gandhi, who had held the Rae Bareli seat for the last 20 years, made an appeal to the voters in the constituency saying that she is handing over her son to them and said he would not disappoint him. This statement seemed to suggest that if Rahul Gandhi were to win from both the seats, he may prefer to retain Rae Bareli.
THE WEEK had earlier reported that there is a general sentiment among people in Rae Bareli that if the Congress leader opts to keep the Wayanad seat, it would amount to a betrayal of Rae Bareli voters.
There is a widespread feeling in the constituency that if Rahul Gandhi chooses Wayanad, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has for a long time looked after Amethi and Rae Bareli on behalf of her brother and mother, respectively, would contest the bye-election from Rae Bareli.
There is also a feeling that Rahul Gandhi may choose to keep Rae Bareli as it will give the party a strong foothold in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh which sends 80 MPs to Parliament.
The BJP and the Left had claimed that he would abandon the constituency if he were to win from Rae Bareli. During the campaigns for the Kerala seat, both the Left and the BJP had pointed out his long absence from the constituency and failure to address key issues affecting the people, including the human-animal conflict.
