Breaking her silence over reasons for not contesting Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary for UP-East Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday said that she took the decision on the direction of senior Congress leaders who advised her to not focus on a single seat but on all the 41 seats in eastern UP.
“I didn’t pull out…I took the advice of all senior leaders of our party and the advice of my colleagues in Uttar Pradesh and they firmly felt that I have a responsibility of looking after 41 seats,” she told media in Amethi.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on nomination from Varanasi seat: I took advice of all senior leaders of our party & colleagues in UP.They firmly felt that I have responsibility here of looking after 41 seats. I felt that they(candidates)would be disappointed if I focused on only one place pic.twitter.com/HC8oFLn47Y
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 30, 2019
“All my candidates (in 41 seats) are still wanting me to go to their constituencies and I felt that they will be a little disappointed if I focussed only on one place,” she added.
ALSO READ: SP fields former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav against PM Modi
Earlier, Priyanka had said that she was willing to contest from Varanasi if the Congress president asks her to do so.
However, the Congress last week pitted Ajai Rai against Prime Minister Narendra Modi ending all such speculation. Whereas, the Samajwadi Party on Monday named sacked BSF soldier Tej Bahadur Yadav, replacing its Lok Sabha candidate Shalini Yadav.
The election in Varanasi is slated to take place in the last phase of seven-phased Lok Sabha elections on May 19. The counting of votes will begin on May 23.