Rahul Gandhi will ‘definitely’ contest from Amethi, UP's new Congress chief Ajay Rai claimed on Friday, a day after he was made the party chief in Uttar Pradesh. On speculations of Priyanka Gandhi contesting in the 2024 election, Ajay Rai said Priyanka Gandhi will contest from wherever she wants; if she wants to contest from Varanasi against PM Modi, every worker will work to ensure her victory. On Smriti Irani, Ajay Rai said, "Ask her whether she could make sugar available at ₹13 per kilo as she had promised. She must answer to the public where did that sugar go." The new UP Congress chief was speaking to news agency ANI.
In 2019, when speculations were rife that Priyanka Gandhi might contest against PM Modi from Varanasi, at the last moment Ajay Rai was fielded from Varanasi. In 2014 too, Ajay Rai contested from Varanasi and lost to Narendra Modi. Months before the Lok Sabha election 2024, Ajay Rai was made the president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress replacing Brijlal Khabri.Before Ajay Rai, Priyanka Gandhi's husband Robert Vadra dropped hints of the possibility of Priyanka entering electoral politics. "She (Priyanka should be in Lok Sabha for sure. She has all the qualifications for it. She would be very good in Parliament and she deserves to be there. I hope that the Congress party accepts and plans better for her," Robert Vadra told news agency PTI. In 2019, Rahul Gandhi contested from both Amethi and Wayanad. While Amethi was his legacy seat, Wayanad was his first entry into the South. Smriti Irani emerged as a giant slayer after she defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi. Rahul Gandhi was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad. Whether he would be able to contest in the 2024 Lok Sabha election was doubtful after he lost his Lok Sabha membership following his conviction in the 2019 Modi surname case. His membership was restored as Supreme Court put an interim stay on Rahul Gandhi's conviction.