Raebareli Rahul Gandhi: How the ‘reluctant’ Congress MP was convinced to contest party's ‘safest’ seat

livemint.com:

Rahul Gandhi on Friday filed his nomination from Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli Lok Sabha constituency. The senior Congress leader was accompanied by party's national president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra. However, source close to Moneycontrol cited that Rahul Gandhi was reluctant to to contest elections from UP and had to be persuaded by several senior party leaders.

Akhilesh Yadav was also informed about the party's decision on Thursday night. Yadav opined that both Amethi and Raebareli are synonymous with Gandhi family and they should contest both the seats “In a meeting late last night, Rahul Gandhi clearly refused to contest elections from Amethi. The reason being, that he has painstakingly built the narrative of Modi’s opponent and he cannot dilute it by contesting against Smriti Irani.

In such a situation, he was persuaded to go to Rae Bareli citing his heritage and bonding the Gandhi family share with that constituency," the Congress leader told Moneycontrol. Congress leaders emphasised Rae Bareli's unwavering support, even in adversity. Acknowledging the region's significance, Rahul Gandhi agreed to contest from there, recognising it as Congress's safest seat in the state.

“Even in that meeting Congress leaders told Rahul Gandhi that contesting from Rae Bareli would be a calculated move, with the party deeming it a safer bet compared to Amethi, a constituency he previously represented," the source said. Earlier in the day, Congress announced Rahul Gandhi as the party candidate from Raebareli, the seat vacated recently by his mother Sonia Gandhi when she became a member of Rajya Sabha. Rahul is pitted against Congress defector and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh in