Sources have informed India Today that former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is considering running for the Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan. Currently, she holds the position of Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli, which is a stronghold of the Gandhi family. The Madhya Pradesh Congress unit has also requested Sonia Gandhi to represent the state in the Rajya Sabha.
Revanth Reddy, Chief Minister of Telangana, recently urged Sonia Gandhi to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the Khammam seat in Telangana. Reddy justified this request by highlighting her role in the statehood of Telangana and referred to her as the “mother of Telangana.”
Sonia Gandhi has been the representative of the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat since 2004, which was previously held by Feroze Gandhi from 1952 to 1960 and Indira Gandhi from 1967 to 1977. However, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, her vote share declined by 8%, even though she secured 534,918 votes (55.80%) against her BJP opponent Dinesh Pratap Singh. In Amethi, another stronghold of the Gandhi family, Rahul Gandhi was defeated by BJP’s Smriti Irani.
For the Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress is likely to nominate Akhilesh Prasad Singh as their candidate from Bihar. Other leaders such as Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ajay Maken may also be fielded by the Congress. The announcement of the Congress candidates is expected to be made within the next one to two days.
The Rajya Sabha elections will be held on February 27 for 56 seats in 15 states. The deadline for filing nomination papers is February 15.
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