Priyanka Gandhi's electoral debut from Wayanad: Decoding Congress strategy in 8 points
Rahul Gandhi has decided to retain the Rae Bareli seat and give up Wayanad. Rahul won both seats in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections 2024.A candidate can contest elections from multiple seats in India.
But one can represent only one seat at a time in the Parliament. Since the Wayanad seat is vacant now, the Congress party had to field a new candidate to fight bypoll to the seat to be held soon .The grand-old party has decided to field Congress general secretary and Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Wayanad.
Both these announcements were made after Congress party’s top leadership met at party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in the national capital on Monday, June 17.But why did Rahul Gandhi decide to retain Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh? And what does Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s electoral debut from Wayanad mean for the Congress party?These two decisions are seen by political analysts as strategic moves aimed at helping party's presence in the country's north and the south. The obvious target are future elections.Raebareli, one of the two Gandhi family bastions in Uttar Pradesh, represented for long by Rahul Gandhi's mother Sonia Gandhi.
The Gandhi family has won 17 of 20 Lok Sabha elections held in Raebareli so far.Also Read: Lok Sabha Speaker elected without contest since Independence. Full details hereThe Congress has won back other family bastion, Amethi from Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Smriti Irani.
The former Union Minister lost to long-time Gandhi family loyalist KL Sharma. Coupled with Rahul's win in Raebareli it has given back the Congress its firm base in Uttar Pradesh.Looking at the recent Lok Sabha election results, the Congress is clearly regaining the lost ground in Uttar Pradesh where
. Read more on livemint.com
