After Hinting At His Political Debut, Robert Vadra Now Backs Congress's Amethi, Raebareli Picks

Priyanka Gandhi's husband and businessman Robert Vadra backed Congress's Amethi and Raebareli picks on Wednesday.

Robert Vadra, husband of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, on Wednesday backed the grand old party's candidates from Congress' stronghold Amethi and Raebareli for the Lok Sabha elections, after hinting at his political debut.

After putting an end to the suspense surrounding their candidates from the two Uttar Pradesh seats, the Congress party announced Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi as its candidate from Raebareli and fielded Congress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi, in an unexpected move last week.

Robert Vadra commented on wanting to contest the Lok Sabha election from UP's Amethi or Raebareli seat saying: "Yes, I found a lot of people in Amethi and Raebareli who were very happy, excited and hopeful that I might take part, stand (in election) and represent them."

Vadra then went on to back the newly nominated candidates saying, "But the good news is that Rahul (Gandhi) is amongst them, and I am very happy for Kishori Lal Sharma, who has worked there (Amethi) forever."

"He (Kishori) knows every little area, he knows every person. He definitely can bring the progress what Smriti Irani was not able to do," Vadra remarked.

Vadra Expresses Desire To Make Political Debut From Amethi

Earlier there were speculations that Vadra would make his political debut this year and contest elections from Amethi, and had even expressed his desire to contest from the Congress bastion, saying that the entire country wishes for him to get into politics.

"When the people of Amethi feel they have made a mistake, when they feel they want the Gandhi family to come back or if they want me... then they will give a big win to the Congress," he had stated while expressing his desire to enter politics.

Congress faced heavy criticism from the BJP party who slammed Rahul Gandhi for not contesting Amethi as he was scared of losing. The saffron party also stated that "ideally Priyanka should have been fielded from the Raebareli seat".

In 2019, BJP's Smriti Irani had wrested the Amethi seat from the grand old party. In Raebareli, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will now compete against BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh.

Voting will be held in Amethi and Raebareli on May 20 in the fifth phase of polling. The results will be declared on June 4.