The Congress on Monday appointed former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel as a senior observer to Rae Bareli and former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot to Amethi. Rahul Gandhi is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli, while party loyalist KL Sharma is taking on BJP's Smriti Irani in Amethi.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi will spearhead the election campaign in Rae Bareli and Amethi, and camp in these parliamentary constituencies from Monday to ensure the party's victory in the two high-profile seats, sources told news agency PTI.
The Congress on Friday announced that Rahul Gandhi would contest from Rae Bareli, the constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades, and Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, will fight from Amethi.
Priyanka Gandhi has already taken command of the campaigns and will remain camped in Rae Bareli and Amethi from Monday onwards, till the end of the polls. She will campaign aggressively to ensure the victory of her brother Rahul Gandhi and Sharma, sources told PTI.
With Rahul Gandhi campaigning across India, Priyanka Gandhi has taken it upon herself to take charge of the campaigns in the two family bastions. The Congress has resolved to ensure victory from Rae Bareli with a big margin and also take back Amethi where BJP leader Smriti Irani had defeated Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, they said.
"She (Priyanka Gandhi) will spearhead the campaign in Amethi and Rae Bareli. She will be there in the two constituencies till the election in both the constituencies," a source said. Priyanka Gandhi will be holding hundreds of 'nukkad sabhas', meetings and door-to-door campaign programmes.
"The centre will be Rae Bareli where she will be stationed at a guest house. From booth management to outreach, everything would be handled by her," the source said. Already outreach has started with freedom fighters' families and those who have had familial ties with the Gandhi family for decades, the sources said.
Priyanka Gandhi will also take care of the planning and scheduling of campaigns by top leaders such as Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Bhupesh Baghel, and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
In Amethi, after 25 years a non-Gandhi family member is in the fray to take on incumbent MP Irani. Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi by more than 55,000 votes in 2019 in Amethi, while in Rae Bareli, Sonia Gandhi defeated BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by more than 1,67,000 votes.
The Amethi and Rae Bareli seats will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth round of the seven-phase general election.
(With inputs from PTI)