'Amethi maange Gandhi…': Congress workers stage protest as Lok Sabha election 2024 suspense continues | Watch

Lok Sabha elections 2024: The Congress party's delay in announcing a candidate for the Amethi seat in Uttar Pradesh is testing the patience of the local party unit. On Tuesday, the unit held a sit-in protest demanding a Gandhi family member as its candidate for the seat. Amethi will go for voting in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on May 20.

The protest from the Congress workers comes as the deadline for submitting nomination papers is only three days away, and the party is yet to announce a candidate for the seat.

Senior leaders of the party, including Amethi district president Pradeep Singhal and former district president Yogendra Mishra, gathered at the party office with posters saying 'Amethi Maange Rahul Gandhi. Amethi Maange Priyanka Gandhi (Amethi wants Rahul Gandhi or (his sister) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra)".

"People of the constituency and Congress workers want a member of the Gandhi family as their candidate. We want Rahul Gandhi to contest from Amethi to bring back its lost honour," the party's district spokesperson, Anil Singh, said.

Congress' turnaround in Amethi

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress received its biggest jolt in Amethi, as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi. The Amethi Lok Sabha seat was considered a Congress bastion, as former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, his brother Sanjay Gandhi, and Sonia Gandhi represented it in the lower house of Parliament. 

Rahul Gandhi still made it to Parliament as he won the election from Wayanad, but losing Amethi was akin to losing prestige for the Congress. The BJP has renominated Smriti Irani as its candidate from Amethi, but the buzz continues in Congress circles about whether members of the Gandhi family will contest the seat. 

The local Congress unit wants Gandhi family members to continue to fight the election from the seat, but the party's high command seems to be worried about the optics. 

(With inputs from PTI)