New Delhi
Putting to rest months of speculation, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday stamped approval on Priyanka Gandhi’s nomination from Wayanad in Kerala.
Rumors of her nomination have been rife since her brother, Rahul Gandhi, made it clear that he would retain the Amethi seat and resigned his membership from the minority-dominated seat in the southern state.
Rahul had contested Wayanad in the face of a tough challenge posed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Smriti Irani.
Irani has been a virtual shadow of Rahul Gandhi since the two first battled from the Gandhi family borough of Amethi. Rahul thwarted the challenge in 2014, but Irani leveled the score in 2019.
Rahul contested the Wayanad election for the first time in 2019 after Irani launched a massive campaign against him in Amethi. While Irani won the election, Gandhi remained an MP from the Wayanad seat, which had come into being a decade earlier in 2009.
In 2024, Rahul Gandhi yet again contested two seats, and this time he emerged victorious from both Amethi and Wayanad. Naturally, the election results sparked speculation about which seat the Congress leader would retain.
In view of the long association Amethi has held with the Gandhi family, Rahul chose to give up Wayanad but ensured that his sister Priyanka would contest the seat.
And now, with the Congress President stamping approval on her nomination, Priyanka Gandhi is all set for her much-awaited electoral debut.
