It's not Modi versus Priyanka in Varanasi, Congress fields Anand Rai

Congress general secretary for eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra greets supporters at an election roadshow in Jhansi. Pic/PTI

The Congress on Thursday fielded Ajay Rai from Varanasi to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ending speculation on a possible blockbuster electoral duel between Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the PM in the Uttar Pradesh temple town.

The 'will she, won't she' suspense finally ended in an anticlimax with the party nominating Rai, who unsuccessfully contested against Modi in 2014 and finished third in the contest behind the BJP leader and Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal.

The Congress also fielded Madhusudan Tiwari from Gorakhpur against BJP's Ravi Kishan, a popular Bhojpuri film star. Speculation on Priyanka Gandhi making her electoral debut from Varanasi had been rife for the past few weeks and was fuelled after Congress president Rahul Gandhi, to a question on whether he planned to field his sister against PM Modi, said last week, "I will leave you in suspense. Suspense is not always a bad thing."

Priyanka Gandhi herself added to the buzz by saying on Tuesday that she would abide by her party's decision on the matter. Responding to questions on the decision to not field Priyanka Gandhi from Varanasi, Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak said, "We have a process and system for fielding candidates. We believe the whole state (Uttar Pradesh) and the whole country needs Priyanka Gandhi's leadership. She is the general secretary for a large part of the state. We aim to win maximum seats from that region and voters are impacted by her leadership and simplicity."

"Her (Priyanka Gandhi's) impact will be on the entire country," she said. Priyanka Gandhi has proved to be the party's star campaigner with her roadshows and rallies evoking tremendous enthusiasm during the poll campaign, Congress leaders said.

She is expected to play a key role in garnering support for the Congress and tilting the scales in the party's favour on seats which are in the balance. The Samajwadi Party on Monday declared Shalini Yadav, who joined the party Monday evening, as its candidate from Varanasi.

After years of working in Congress backrooms, Priyanka Gandhi joined full-time politics in February as in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi constituency will go to the polls in the last phase on May 19. With the announcement of the two seats, the Congress has named candidates for 424 seats in all.

Prime Minister Modi will file his nomination papers for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat on Friday in the presence of senior NDA leaders. In 2014, Modi won the seat by a margin of over three lakh votes against Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal.

RaGa responsible if the BJP comes back to power: Kejriwal

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be the only person responsible if the BJP comes back to power, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said as he slammed the Gandhi scion days after both the parties failed to form an alliance in Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections. The AAP launched its manifesto on Thursday. Kejriwal said the AAP would not have "dreamt" of forming an alliance with the Congress but agreed to save the country. "I can say that we tried our best to form an alliance with Congress and if the BJP comes back to power, only one person would be responsible for it and that would be Rahul Gandhi," he said. "I want to ask Rahul Gandhi which alliance is formed on Twitter. If they were serious about forming an alliance they should have come to the table for negotiations. Giving statements in public is not going to solve the problem," he said.

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