Congress party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Sunday that she will contest the Lok Sabha elections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi parliamentary constituency if asked by her brother and party chief Rahul Gandhi. “If Congress President asks me to contest, I will be happy to contest,” Priyanka told the media while campaigning in Wayanad constituency in Kerala where her brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi will contest. The polling in Wayanad is scheduled for Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is a sitting lawmaker from Varanasi, is likely to be fielded from the same constituency again this time by his Bharatiya Janata Party. Priyanka had triggered speculations in political circles about her being a candidate against Modi during an interaction with party workers in her mother Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli constituency last month. Priyanka, who had been asked to contest the election from Rae Bareli, shot back smiling “why not Varanasi”.
Rahul has not lifted the suspense on the possibility over Priyanka’s candidature in Varanasi. When asked whether his sister would actually take on Modi in Varanasi, the Congress chief said “let the suspense continue.” The (BJP had swept parliamentary polls in Uttar Pradesh state in the 2014 parliamentary polls, winning 71 out of 80 seats. Varanasi is part of eastern part of Uttar Pradesh where the party holds 27 out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in the region where voting will be held in the last three phases of the ongoing national elections on May 6, 12 and 19.
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