NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Amid intense speculations about Rahul Gandhi also contesting the ongoing Lok Sabha elections from traditional Congress bastion Amethi, Union Minister and BJP leader Piyush Goyal on Saturday challenged him to contest from 4-5 other seats as he is set to lose badly in Kerala's Wayanad. The senior BJP leader asserted that Rahul Gandhi has no chance before Union Minister Smriti Irani, who defeated him badly in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Giving a piece of advice to the Gandhi scion, Goyal said that he should consider contesting from 4-5 other seats, including the North Mumbai seat because he is set to face defeat in Wayanad this time.


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The BJP leader even dared him to contest from Varanasi - PM Modi's Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh - if he has courage. "I welcome Rahul Gandhi with an open heart if he wants to contest from the Mumbai North seat. If he wants to contest he can contest from Amethi and if he is courageous enough, he should contest from Varanasi. He should contest from 4-5 seats as he is losing in Wayanad and Smriti Irani will defeat him badly in Amethi. If he wants to go to Ayodhya, he should, it's a different thing that they have denied the existence of Shri Ram and have planned to destroy Ramsetu... He should go there and seek an apology for whatever has been said by the leaders of his party and other alliance partners, '' Goyal said.


 



 


Goyal's remarks come at a time when Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) is set to meet today to consider candidates for the highly awaited Uttar Pradesh seats of Raebareli and Amethi. According to the reports, leaders of the UP Congress and Avinash Pandey, chairman of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in UP, have been invited to a meeting today.


The UP Congress had previously proposed to the CEC that the Gandhi family should contest the Amethi and Raibareli seats, with the choice left to the CEC and high leadership. A senior party official tolf ANI that the environment is extremely good, and they are optimistic that the proposal would be taken in good faith.


The Congress is likely to nominate Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi as candidates for the Amethi and Rae Bareli seats, respectively. In 2019, Smriti Irani beat Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha election from Amethi. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Irani again for the seat.


Notably, the businessman-husband of Congress politician Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Robert Vadra who previously indicated a desire to run for the Amethi parliamentary seat, has stated that the whole country aspires for him to enter active politics. He further said that Smriti Irani, the current MP from Amethi, has not kept her pledges and has not worked properly in the constituency. 


The two constituencies, Amethi and Rae Bareli will be going for polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.