Clamour for Priyanka to contest from Raebareli, Cong says candidates from Amethi, Raebareli to be announced at 'right time'

'Every party has a strategy for the elections and the candidates are declared in accordance with that strategy....we will declare our candidates from Raebareli and Amethi at the right time,' Congress leader and UP in-charge Avinash Pandey said.

Lucknow: Amid clamour for Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi to contest from the party stronghold of Raebareli for the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Monday made it clear that the candidates from the Raebareli and Amethi Lok Sabha seats would be announced at the ''right time''.

''Every party has a strategy for the elections and the candidates are declared in accordance with that strategy....we will declare our candidates from Raebareli and Amethi at the right time,'' Congress leader and UP in-charge Avinash Pandey told reporters here.

He said that the Congress leadership had been apprised about the feelings of the party workers and leaders in Raebareli and Amethi. ''Raebareli and Amethi have been associated with the Gandhi family for a long time....both seats are important for us,'' he added.

Pandey said that the Congress-Samajwadi Party (SP) alliance was working well on the ground and that there was complete coordination between the two parties. ''Very soon a big public meeting of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance will be held in the state...the date of the rally will be decided shortly,'' he added.

Pandey's remarks came amid increasing clamor from the local Congress workers and leaders in Raebareli for Priyanka's candidature from the seat which was represented by former AICC president and her mother Sonia Gandhi.

Senior party leaders from Raebareli said that the party had conducted a survey in the constituency to gauge the mood of the electorate and it was found that they wanted Priyanka to contest. ''A delegation of local leaders had met the Congress leadership in Delhi recently and handed over the survey report,'' said a local Congress leader in Raebareli.

The local leadership in Raebareli was almost certain that Priyanka would launch her electoral debut from Raebareli. ''Priyanka is familiar with the constituency...she has visited almost every village in Raebareli while campaigning for Soniaji...she was in-charge of her campaign here,'' said the Congress leader.

Sources in the state Congress said that it would be very difficult to retain Raebareli if anyone other than the Gandhi family contested from there given a determined psh from the BJP to wrest the seat from the Congress. In 2019 LS polls, Congress could win only the Raebareli seat in the state. Even Rahul Gandhi lost from the party's bastion of Amethi to union minister Smriti Irani.

The delay in announcing candidates from Amethi and Raebareli found mention in prime minister Narendra Modi's speech at an election meeting in Saharanpur on Saturday. Modi took potshots at the grand old party saying that it was finding it difficult to get candidates even on the seats it considered as its strongholds.