Making two major announcements, the Congress on Monday said that Rahul Gandhi has decided to give up the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala in favour of the family bastion of Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh and, capping years of speculation, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is finally making her electoral debut from the constituency he is vacating. 

Announcing the decisions after a high-level Congress meeting, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, who was flanked by the Gandhi siblings, said the call on which constituency to vacate was taken now as the last day for doing so is Tuesday. 

“The party has decided that Rahul Gandhi should keep the Raebareli seat because it has been close to him and his family for generations. The people of the constituency and people in the Congress feel this will be good for the party as well. More importantly, he has received love from the people of Wayanad and people there want him to retain the seat. But the rules don’t allow this. So we have decided that Priyanka ji will contest from Wayanad,” he said in Hindi.

The long-awaited electoral debut of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will happen from Kerala’s Wayanad, the seat that will shortly be vacated by her brother, Congress’s Rahul Gandhi. Mr Gandhi will represent Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli, the family bastion traditionally represented by their mother Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha. Mrs Gandhi vacated Raebareli early this year and is now a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Shortly after Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge made the announcement, Ms Gandhi Vadra said she was not nervous about contesting and that she would give Wayanad her “best”.

The other family bastion in Uttar Pradesh, Amethi, is already back in Congress hands, with long-time Gandhi family aide KL Sharma besting the BJP’s former Union minister Smriti Irani.