Congress finalises seat-sharing deal with DMK for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry

The Congress on Saturday reacted to the suspense over its candidates for Rae Bareli and Amethi Lok Sabha seats even as the party announced its first list of candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal broke the silence over the Amethi seat and also reacted to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) criticism of whether party MP Rahul Gandhi will be contesting from Amethi.

“We only released the list for 39 seats yesterday. Wait for our list. Why is the BJP so worried about Rahul Gandhi now? Venugopal told ANI. “We will win Amethi and Raebareli. We are very confident.”

Further criticising the BJP, Venugopal said that the party creates the impression that they are everything.

“These people (BJP) are trying to create the impression that they are everything but the people of India are everything, not the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The people will decide the future of India,” he added, according to ANI.

Congress 1st list for Lok Sabha

The Congress on Friday announced its first list of 39 candidates across eight states and a Union territory for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, nominating senior leader Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala, former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh, sitting MP Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram, and party general secretary KC Venugopal from Alappuzha in Kerala.

Of the 39 candidates announced, 15 are from the general caste and 24 are from SC/ST/minorities.

Congress general secretary Venugopal announced that the candidates were selected on the basis of “winnability and loyalty” and said that the party was trying in “maximum possible ways” to go with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the Opposition grouping that was forged to take on the BJP but which has suffered attrition in recent months amid acrimony over seat sharing.

Hours after the announcement, BJP leader Amit Malviya took a potshot at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for giving the much-anticipated Amethi seat a miss in the party’s first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Taking to his official handle on X Amit Malviya wrote: “Rahul Gandhi won’t contest from Amethi? डर गया? (Got scared?)”