Amethi Congress wants candidate announced immediately, protests outside party office

Congress workers sat on a protest outside the party office raising slogans of "Amethi mange Gandhi parivar (Amethi demands the Gandhi family)".

The Congress is yet to announce candidates for the two prestige seats from UP- Amethi and Raebareli.

Election for both seats is due on May 20 in the fifth phase.

The protests came just four days ahead of the last date for nomination filing.

"This is a Gandhian system to summon our leaders," one of the party workers told NDTV. "Enough time has been spent dilly-dallying. We are running out of patience. They should just hurry up and announce the names," he added.

The Congress is still analysing following the BJP victory in 2019 when MP Rahul Gandhi lost to Union Minister Smriti Irani after representing Amethi for three terms.

The constituency was once held by Rahul Gandhi's uncle Sanjay Gandhi and later his parents Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi. 

According to reports, Rahul Gandhi may not be interested in contesting from Amethi. A victory would mean that he might have to surrender the Kerala seat, which sent him to the Lok Sabha in 2019.

Asked about the matter, the protesting Congress workers from Amethi said while reports are possible, they have "full faith that the Gandhi family will contest from Amethi".

Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is expected to step into her mother's shoes in Raebareli. However, it is still unsure whether she will take a plunge into electoral politics.

Since 2014, there has been expectation that she would contest from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 and later from Uttar Pradesh after she was made the general secretary in charge of the state.