Rahul Gandhi may also contest from Amethi, while there are indications that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may stand from Rae Bareli, a constituency formerly represented by Sonia Gandhi. These constituencies hold significant historical importance as bastions of the Gandhi family, and local Congress units have vocally advocated for the scions of the Congress’s first family to contest from there.
Rahul Gandhi, who was previously an MP from Amethi, lost the seat in 2019 but won from Wayanad in Kerala.
With the potential entry of Karunakaran’s daughter, Padmaja, into the BJP camp, there’s a palpable concern within Congress about the shifting political dynamics in Kerala.
This development has prompted Congress to recalibrate its strategy in certain constituencies. For instance, sensing a potential boost to BJP’s candidate Sureshgopi’s prospects in Thrissur, Congress has decided to relocate its sitting MP and Karunakaran’s son, K Muralidharan, from Vadakara to Thrissur, aiming to counterbalance the emerging political equations effectively.
As per reports total of 60 Lok Sabha seats from 11 states and union territories were discussed during deliberations at the CEC meeting which was chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge.Discussions were held on Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Sikkim, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya and Lakshwadeep. Congress’ legislature party leader V D Satheesan said the party will contest 16 seats in Kerala and four will be contested by its allies in the state.
Rahul Gandhi will seek re-election from Kerala’s Wayanad seat.
AICC in-charge Delhi Deepak Babaria said a preliminary discussion took place for Delhi candidates, where the party is contesting three seats while its INDIA bloc ally AAP is contesting the remaining four.
He said a discussion on Delhi seats will be held again on March 11.
While former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel is likely to be fielded from Rajnandgaon, former minister Tamradhwaj Sahu is set to fight the elections from the state’s Mahasamund seat. Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal is also among the finalised candidates.
Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi and Venugopal, as well as other senior leaders who are part of the CEC were present at the meeting.
The Congress has not declared any candidate so far. Last week, the BJP came out with its first list of 195 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress sources told PTI that the party is likely to declare its first list of candidates soon to enable the nominees to start campaigning.
With inputs from PTI