PM Modi at Prayagraj's Kumbh Mela control centre

The prime minister's visit to Rae Bareli is being seen as a strategy of the BJP to pin the Congress leadership in their respective constituencies in the 2019 general election. Rae Bareli is represented in the Lok Sabha by former Congress chief and UPA (United Progressive Alliance) chairperson Sonia Gandhi who has not visited the constituency since April. Before that, Sonia Gandhi had visited the constituency in mid-2016. Also, she did not campaign in the constituency during the 2017 UP election, after she developed a health issue during a roadshow in Varanasi.