Lok Sabha polls 2024: Rahul Gandhi to contest from Amethi, confirms Congress' Ajay Rai

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India], August 18 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was defeated in the 2019 general election by BJP's Smriti Irani, is all set to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.  
Newly elected Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai confirmed that Rahul Gandhi will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi. 
"Rahul Gandhi will contest from Amethi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections," Ajay Rai said.
"It is the demand of the Congress workers and the public there...Congress workers want to work on their shortcomings to make sure Rahul Gandhi wins from Amethi. Congress workers demand that Priyanka Gandhi be established as a strong leader. It is their (Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi) personal decision on where to contest from. We will give our best performance to ensure their win," he said. 
"I am standing in front of you. The rest is to the party high command and INDIA bloc to decide," said Ajay Rai on being asked if he will again contest against PM Modi in the Varanasi constituency.
Ajay Rai was the Congress candidate in Varanasi both in 2014 and 2019 and lost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On speculations of Priyanka Gandhi contesting in the 2024 election, Rai said that Priyanka Gandhi will contest from wherever she wants to.
"If Priyanka Gandhi wishes to contest from Varanasi, every worker would strive to make her win," he added.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Bhakt Charan Das said that Rahul Gandhi has started a revolution.
"Such a spotless character will win. It doesn't matter where he fights the elections. Even if Rahul Gandhi fights from Manipur, he will win," he said. 
However, Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh said that "Currently nobody can break the faith and the trust people have in PM Modi." 
He said that Ajay Rai is giving a statement to gain cheap popularity. He has only tried to establish himself in the media.
Amethi used to be a Congress stronghold in Uttar Pradesh, where Rahul Gandhi lost to Smriti Irani by a margin of around 55,000 votes in the 2019 elections. Amethi, along with Rae Bareilli used to be well-known Congress strongholds. 
Earlier Assam Congress MLA Abdur Rashid Mandal said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is the "best Prime Ministerial candidate" for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc.
"INDIA bloc will choose the Prime Ministerial candidate. Congress party alone can't select and it depends upon the opinion of all parties of INDIA bloc. Being a Congress MLA, worker I do believe that Rahul Gandhi will be the most acceptable Prime Ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc," Abdur Rashid Mandal said.
Rashid further said that he wants that Rahul Gandhi to be the next Prime Minister.
The Opposition parties met to chalk out a strategy to put out a united front to take on the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
Notably, INDIA or ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’ is a group of 26 opposition parties, including the Congress. The parties have come together to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by PM Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and prevent it from winning a third straight term at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The first such meeting was convened in Bihar’s Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Karnataka’s Bengaluru on July 17-18. (ANI)