India's opposition leader will challenge Modi's party in a family fiefdom

Rahul Gandhi, de facto leader of the opposition Indian National Congress (INC), is running for office in his family stronghold of Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh.

The decision was announced on Friday, the last day to nominate candidates in the constituency, which will take place on May 20 in the fifth of seven rounds of legislative elections that will determine the country's new government. Rabareli is in the politically important state of Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state, which holds 80 of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha.

Mr Gandhi is also contesting there and in Wayanad, a central constituency in the southern state of Kerala, where voting is already underway in April. Candidates can run in multiple districts, but can only represent one district.

The Congress movement is aimed at challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this key region, which is dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It had been speculated for some time that Mr. Gandhi might be competing against the Bharatiya Janata Party-backed Modi government's minister for women, child development and minority affairs, Smriti Irani, in the Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh state. .

A major disappointment for the Congress party in 2019 was that Mr. Gandhi, who had already been elected to parliament three times, lost in the Amethi election to Miss. Irani, a TV actress turned politician. This time, the Congress has chosen Kishori Lal Sharma as its candidate from Amethi.

The Iranian president said the Congress party had decided not to contest against any member of the Gandhi family in key constituencies and had "already accepted defeat" in the Amethi election. Narendra Modi also suggested that Gandhi was afraid of losing. “Fearing the battle in Amethi, he fled to Rabareri. I want to say to him, 'Daro mat, bago matt (don't be afraid, don't run away),''' the chief minister said at an election rally in West Bengal on Friday.

The Gandhi family has been part of Raebareli's political landscape since 1952. Feroz, the husband of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, won here in 1952 and she in 1957. Indira Gandhi served as the Member of Parliament from this constituency from 1967 to 1977. Other prominent figures who represented Raebareli include Arun Nehru, a key figure in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's government. and Sheila Kaur, Indira Gandhi's aunt. More recently, Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's wife and Rahul Gandhi's mother, strengthened her family's control of the constituency in 2004. She won the 2019 election with over 55% of the vote. This year, Rahul Gandhi will be running against Dinesh Pratap Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who lost to Sonia Gandhi in the last election.