A few days before Congress announces the names of party candidates for Uttar Pradesh's prestigious Amethi and Rae Bareli seats, BJP leader and candidate from the Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency Piyush Goyal BJP leader Piyush Goyal challenged Rahul Gandhi to contest for four to five additional seats as he is expected to lose significantly in Kerala's Wayanad.
The senior BJP leader claimed Rahul Gandhi had no chance against Union Minister Smriti Irani, who defeated him by a wide margin in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Goyal advised the Gandhi scion to consider contesting four to five other seats, including North Mumbai, because he will likely lose in Wayanad this time.
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While addressing a press conference he said, "I welcome Rahul Gandhi with an open heart if he wants to contest from the Mumbai North seat. If he wants to contest he can contest from Amethi and if he is courageous enough, he should contest from Varanasi. He should contest from 4-5 seats as he is losing in Wayanad and Smriti Irani will defeat him badly in Amethi. If he wants to go to Ayodhya, he should, it's a different thing that they have denied the existence of Shri Ram and have planned to destroy Ramsetu... He should go there and seek an apology for whatever has been said by the leaders of his party and other alliance partners."
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said at a press conference in Guwahati on April 27 that the names of party candidates for Uttar Pradesh's famous Amethi and Rae Bareli seats would be announced in a "few days".
Kharge responded to the BJP's criticism of Rahul Gandhi for contesting elections in Kerala's Wayanad rather than Amethi. He stated, "Those questioning Congress leaders for changing constituencies must also tell me how many times (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee and (Lal Krishna) Advani changed their seats."
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