Congress may field candidates for Amethi, Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha Election 2024: Kharge

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge announced the party's candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh will be decided soon. He criticized the BJP for accepting corrupt leaders and defending its members facing accusations. Kharge dismissed BJP's criticism of Rahul Gandhi's choice of constituency, citing previous instances of leaders changing seats. He downplayed the impact of defections on Congress, emphasizing its strength and resilience.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the names of party candidates for prestigious Amethi and Rae Bareli seats in Uttar Pradesh will be announced in a ''few days''.

Addressing a press conference here, he claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are ''put on the lap'' and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.

''You have to wait for a few more days... when the names of candidates come from people to me and I sign the notification, it will be announced,'' he said when asked about candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies.

''Those questioning Congress leaders for changing constituencies must also tell me how many times have (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee and (Lal Krishna) Advani changed their seats,'' Kharge said, when asked about the BJP criticising Rahul Gandhi for fighting the elections from Kerala's Wayanad instead of Amethi.

In an apparent reference to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kharge claimed that Congress is not affected by people who ''grew up in the party and left it later''.

''Congress is like a flowing river, it is not affected by a few persons leaving it,'' he asserted.

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