Rahul will contest from Amethi in 2024 LS Polls: Congress' Ajay Rai

Lucknow: Rahul Gandhi will contest the coming Lok Sabha election from Amethi, newly appointed Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai said on Friday.

"Rahul Gandhi will definitely contest the Lok Sabha election from Amethi, the people of Amethi are here," Rai, who was made the president of the state unit of the party in the latest reshuffle, told reporters in Varanasi.

Amethi was a long held bastion of the Gandhi family till Rahul Gandhi, who had been an MP from the seat since 2004, was ousted in 2019 general election by BJP's Smriti Irani.

Surrounded by party workers and leaders, who gathered at the airport as he arrived from Delhi, Rai said that if party national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi desires, she can contest from Varanasi or any other place.

"If Priyanka Gandhi has the desire to fight from Varanasi, every single worker will work wholeheartedly for her," he said.

Rai, an upper caste Bhumihar who had unsuccessfully contested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, was made the UP Congress chief, replacing Dalit leader Brijlal Khabri.

Asked if his appointment was a reward for contesting against Narendra Modi twice, he said, "this is the result of my continued struggle, someone who went to jail, who has been continuously exposing the wrong, Ajay Rai is the 'sipahi' of Rahul Gandhi. This struggle will be fought all over the state." When asked about Union minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in the last election, Rai said she appears frustrated.

"Smriti Irani seems frustrated. She said she will get sugar at Rs 13 per kg, did she manage it? People from Amethi are here, ask them," Rai said.

Rahul Gandhi is at present MP from Wayanad in Kerala.

Rai said unemployment, inflation, and "fear created through ED and CBI" would be the main issues in the coming general elections.

He said the party will take the message of "love" given by Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikajurn Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi to every village and every house.

He also claimed that Congress will defeat BJP in every village.

Rai was an MLA for about 20 years between 1996-2017 and had been in the BJP and the Samajwadi Party before joining the Congress in 2012.

Sonia Gandhi, an MP from Rae Bareli, is the only Congress parliamentarian from UP at present.

The strength of the grand old party went down to mere two in the 403-member UP house after the last year state polls.