Rahul Gandhi, the Congress candidate from Raebareli, is campaigning to defend the family bastion - a stronghold of the party since Independence.
Mr Gandhi reached the constituency with his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, to participate in one of the biggest rallies since he filed nominations for the seat. It was Mr Gandhi's first rally in Raebareli.
While concluding his speech, Mr Gandhi asked his supporters whether they had any questions. A supporter in the crowd asked, "When are you getting married?" The Congress leader paused for a few seconds...smiled and said, "Jaldi karni padegi" (Now, I have to get married soon). Mr Gandhi waved at the crowd while his sister smiled and clapped and he walked off the stage.
As he ended his speech, he called his sister to the front of the dais.
Mr Gandhi expressed his appreciation for her efforts in the Raebareli campaign. "I am touring different parts of the country in the election and my sister is spending time here, a big thanks to her for this," he said.
Priyanka Gandhi, who is not contesting in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, is rallying for her brother in Raebareli and party loyalist and close aide, Kishori Lal Sharma, in Amethi. The two seats combined were considered a stronghold of the party until BJP's Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi in the previous general elections in 2019 and took the seat away from the Congress.
The suspense surrounding Amethi and Raebareli ended when Congress fielded Kishori Lal Sharma from the former and Mr Gandhi from the latter. The BJP has taunted the Congress for its choice and Ms Irani, the current MP from Amethi even called Mr Sharma a "proxy" and the Gandhis would have fought themselves and not fielded a proxy if they felt they could win.
We will leave no stone unturned in welcoming our guests. Congress's decision to not field anyone from the Gandhi family in Amethi signifies that it has accepted defeat even before voting takes place," said the actor-turned-politician.
Rahul Gandhi had won Amethi in 2004, 2009, and 2014, but a defeat to Ms Irani in 2019 reduced the Congress's UP footprint. He had contested Wayanad in 2019 as a second seat and won it to retain his MP status.
Raebareli's tryst with Congress can be traced back to the first general elections in 1952 when the seat was held by Feroze Gandhi, the husband of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and son-in-law of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who won the Raebareli seat in 1952 and then again in 1957. After he died in 1960, the Congress fielded RP Singh in the by-elections and retained the seat.
Sonia Gandhi picked Raebareli, a seat she won for four consecutive terms. In February 2024, when Mrs Gandhi announced her decision to not contest the next Lok Sabha elections, she wrote a letter to the Raebareli electorate, who supported her for two decades. "My family in Delhi is incomplete; it's you all in Raebareli who complete it," wrote the former Congress president. She added that her family's ties with Raebareli run deep and she received it as a "saubhagya (good fortune)" from her in-laws.
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