There was growing clamour from Congress leaders, and a sharp attack from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Saturday over the possibility of Rahul Gandhi contesting the 2024 general elections from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency -- a day after a statement on the issue from the newly appointed Congress Uttar Pradesh chief sparked speculation. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. (PTII photo)

Read here: ‘Used Amethi like chewing gum’: BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Cong over Rahul's 2024 candidature

Rahul Gandhi held the Amethi seat for 15 years before losing in 2019 to Union minister Smriti Irani of the BJP. To be sure, he also contested and won from Wayanad in Kerala.

The Congress’s UP unit chief, Ajay Rai, doubled down on his statement on Saturday -- and was joined by other leaders from the party.

“The people of Amethi want Rahul Gandhi to become their MP. If he contests from Amethi, he will get a landslide victory. The people of Amethi consider Rahul Gandhi their family because he fulfilled promises,” Rai told reporters on Saturday. “It is the demand of the Congress workers and the public there…The people want Congress to come into power...We will give our best performance to ensure that we win.”

Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat echoed Rai’s sentiment and suggested that Gandhi could again contest from both Amethi and Wayanad. “Amethi is Rahul Gandhi’s natural seat but he will also fight from Wayanad because Wayanad supported him at the time of crisis,” Rawat said.

Another senior Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh, Rashid Alvi, claimed that Irani would lose her security deposit if Gandhi contests from Amethi in 2024.

But two Congress leaders close to Gandhi were quick to term the statements as “personal opinions”.

“Rahul Gandhi is a sitting MP from Wayanad in Kerala. These talks of Gandhi going to Amethi are wild speculation at this state. No discussion has taken place in the Congress about Gandhi contesting from Amethi,” one of the leaders said, asking not to the named.

“These issues (seat for Gandhi) will be discussed next year. The Congress has not started discussing seats for the 2024 elections. He is an elected representative of Wayanad and he has responsibilities for his constituency,” a second leader said.

The BJP hit back at the speculation, saying Gandhi will again lose if he contests from Amethi.

“The Congress has used the people of Amethi like a chewing gum. They didn’t do anything for development, whereas PM Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s leadership has changed the landscape of the city and has brought various positive changes. People won’t forgive them [Congress],” BJP leader and former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

The BJP’s national general secretary, Tarun Chugh, also attacked Gandhi over the issue. “They didn’t do any work in Amethi. The people of Amethi had defeated Rahul Gandhi earlier, they will defeat him again,” he said.

The Amethi seat was a pocket borough of the Gandhi family for decades before Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 elections. The only Congress leader to win a seat in the state in 2019 was Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli.

Read here: BJP, Congress in war of words over ‘Rahul Gandhi vs Smriti Irani’ claim: ‘She might leave Amethi’

Former leader Sanjay Gandhi, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi represented the Amethi seat in the Lok Sabha before Rahul contested from the constituency for the first time in 2004.