Down to the wire: Congress keeps Amethi, Rae Bareli open for today, the last day

Rahul is said to have had a discussion with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. They were together in Karnataka to address a campaign rally. While some leaders claimed Rahul has agreed to contest and may enter the fray from Rae Bareli, the seat represented by his mother Sonia Gandhi since 2004, the fact that the party could not announce the names suggest that it is yet to find the right mix of candidates or Rahul is still apprehensive.

Rahul, who is also seeking re-election from Wayanad in Kerala, is said to be wary of the seat in the event of him winning from either Amethi or Rae Bareli.

As the Congress dithered, the BJP announced the candidature of UP minister Dinesh Pratap Singh from Rae Bareli, where he lost to Sonia Gandhi in 2019 but did manage to halve her majority.

With Sonia Gandhi already a Rajya Sabha member, the apprehension in the family was said to be over both Rahul and Priyanka entering the electoral fray, which would have given the BJP an opportunity to sharpen its dynasty line of attack against the Congress.

The other question which Rahul is said to be confronted with is the possibility of him winning both Amethi and Wayanad, which will force him to choose one seat and relinquish the other – one which sent him to Parliament for the first time in 2004 and he has represented thrice, and another which ensured that he remains an MP in 2019. The apprehension was that leaving Wayanad could impact the Congress’s chances in the 2026 assembly elections in Kerala.

In 2021, the CPM-led LDF created history securing a consecutive second term in office, bucking Kerala’s political trend of changing governments every five years. The 2026 Assembly election is hence critical for the Congress.

Sources said some leaders have advised Rahul to shift to Rae Bareli, his mother’s constituency, which, if manages to win, could give him an emotional reason to relinquish Wayanad.

If Rahul contests from Rae Bareli, Kishorilal Sharma, the influential representative of the Nehru-Gandhi family in Amethi and Rae Bareli for over two decades, could be the nominee from Amethi.

In Amethi, there is, of course, the unsaid fear of a Gandhi losing again.

Congress leaders are still hopeful of one of them contesting as they believe that the Gandhis leaving the Hindi heartland would give the BJP the needless political ammunition to target the party besides creating a perception that the siblings do not have the stomach to fight the BJP in North India, especially Uttar Pradesh. The present generation of Gandhis had been in the fray in Amethi for the last 25 years and Rae Bareli since 2004.

Since Independence, the Congress has lost Amethi and Rae Bareli only thrice. The party tasted defeat for the first time in Rae Bareli in 1977 when Indira Gandhi famously lost to Raj Narain in the elections post Emergency. The party lost the seat again in 1996 and in 1998 but has not been defeated there since then. Similarly, the Congress was defeated in Amethi in 1977, 1998 and 2019.