Rahul Gandhi will contest 2024 LS polls from Amethi, claims Ajay Rai

Rahul Gandhi would contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections again from Amethi with which the Nehru-Gandhi family has old ties, Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Ajay Rai claimed on Wednesday.

Rai, the regional head of the party in UP, also said that it is his appeal to the people of Amethi to send Rahul Gandhi to Delhi by electing him as an MP again with a huge margin.

"The Gandhi-Nehru family has old relations with Amethi...no one can weaken it. Rahul Gandhi will contest from Amethi in 2024," Rai told reporters here.

There has been no word from the party so far on the former Congress president fighting the next parliamentary elections again from Amethi.

Rahul Gandhi, who had won the Amethi parliamentary seat for three times in a row, was defeated by BJP leader and Union minister Smriti Irani in 2019 elections.

He is currently representing Kerala's Wayanad constituency in Lok Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi's parents Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had won from Amethi in the past.

Speaking about the ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' led by Rahul Gandhi, Rai who had unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi in 2014 and in 2019 said that the yatra is currently passing through Rajasthan and will enter Uttar Pradesh on January 3 or 4 next year.

But before that, the UP Congress is taking out regional yatras on the lines of Bharat Jodo Yatra at various places, he said, adding that for this, the state has been divided into six regions and a president has been appointed for each region.

On December 11, the regional yatra started from Prayagraj under Rai's leadership and reached Amethi on Wednesday via Kaushambi and Pratapgarh.

In Amethi district, the regional yatra that passed through Lodi Baba and Qazi Patti areas on Wednesday will cover a distance of 25 km, Rai said.

Besides district Congress president Pradeep Singhal, former MLC Deepak Singh among others were seen in attendance.

After Amethi, the regional yatra will reach Sultanpur and proceed to Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Sonbhadra and finally end in Varanasi on December 22.

Rai also said that tension was prevailing everywhere under the BJP government.

"Traders are running away leaving their shops. Rahul ji had called GST Gabbar Singh Tax, today he has been proved right. There is fear among the traders about GST. The traders who have been supporting the BJP since long are being harassed.

"The chief minister says that action should be taken against 'thieves'... it means that the businessmen have become 'thieves' today," Rai added.