Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Suspense in Congress camp over Rahul, Priyanka contesting from Amethi and Rae Bareli

New Delhi: Suspense over candidature of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Gandhi family bastions Amethi and Rae Bareli continued on Saturday even after a meeting of the party's Central Election Committee where the panel members and the Uttar Pradesh in-charge are learnt to have appealed to the leadership to announce their candidature.

The meeting chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was attended by former president Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal, senior Karnataka Minister K J George and former union minister Salman Khurshid among others.

Sources said UP in-charge Avinash Pande was also present for a brief period when the CEC members and the in-charge appealed to both Kharge and Sonia to take a final decision on the candidature of Rahul and Priyanka from the prestigious seats.

The final decision has been left to the Congress president, who will be "consulting" Sonia before clearing the names for the constituencies.

Congress had earlier indicated that the names for both the seats will be finalised after the second phase of elections on April 26 when Wayanad from where Rahul was contesting is over. There was speculation that an announcement on the seats would come on Saturday late evening.

After Sonia's exit from electoral politics, party workers had been demanding that one of the Gandhi siblings enter the fray from Rae Bareli while the other contests from Amethi. Rahul had lost Amethi seat to BJP’s Smriti Irani last time.

Sources said Priyanka had earlier expressed her reservations about contesting the Lok Sabha elections. However, they said, her latest views on fighting the polls are not known. There was speculation that Rahul will fight from Amethi while Priyanka will contest from Rae Bareli.

However, a section of Congress leaders said the candidate for Rae Bareli seat is significant as the choice would be seen as taking forward the legacy of Sonia. So, they added, this would have a bearing on the choice of candidate.

At the meeting, sources said, the CEC also discussed candidates for the remaining five seats in Punjab.