Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday said that she will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi if party chief Rahul Gandhi asks her to do so. “I will be happy to contest in Varanasi if my brother Rahul Gandhi insists,” Priyanka Gandhi told reporters in Kerala’s Wayanad, The Hindu reported.
If Priyanka Gandhi contests from Varanasi, she will face Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for the Uttar Pradesh constituency. Polling will be held in Varanasi on May 19, the last phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls. Results will be declared along with those of other Lok Sabha constituencies on May 23.
However, Kerala BJP leader VV Rajesh dismissed talk of Priyanka Gandhi contesting against Modi, the Hindustan Times reported. “Her brother is on a sticky wicket in Amethi, that is why he fled to Wayanad,” Rajesh claimed. “We are not worried about his sister’s entry in Varanasi where the prime minister is well-placed. It is for the Congress party to decide.” Rahul Gandhi will contest the polls from Amethi and Wayanad.
The Congress chief, in an interview with The Hindu last week, had said that he prefers to maintain the suspense about his sister’s candidature from Varanasi. “I will leave you in suspense. Suspense is not always a bad thing!” he had said.
Last month, when a party worker asked Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Rae Bareli, she reportedly asked, “Shouldn’t I fight from Varanasi?”
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