Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi will convey their gratitude to the people of Rae Bareli and Amethi by meeting them personally on Tuesday.

This will be their first visit to the region after Congress won both the seats.

Although the Congress has not released their itinerary for the day, newly elected Amethi MP Kishori Lal Sharma told reporters that the two leaders would meet the party workers and people of the area in Bhuemau Guest House in Rae Bareli district.

“They are coming to express their gratitude to the people of the twin constituencies. The people voted for us and it is the time to start working for them afresh. It will start with the thank you gesture,” Lal told reporters.

Sharma, an aide of the Nehru-Gandhi family and Rahul have won from Amethi and Rae Bareli, respectively.

Pradeep Singhal, Amethi district Congress chief, said: “Since there is a heat wave in central Uttar Pradesh, it was decided that the two leaders would address the people on the premises of the guest house. Sharma will also be present there.”

Rahul has won by a margin of 3.90 lakh votes against the BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh in Rae Bareli. His mother Sonia Gandhi represented the seat from 2004 to 2024 before becoming a Rajya Sabha member.

In Amethi, Sharma won by 1.67 lakh votes against Smriti Irani of the BJP.

Although the twin seats were considered the Nehru-Gandhi family bastion, Irani had defeated Rahul in Amethi by around 55,000 votes in 2019.

Locals believe that Rahul will leave the Wayanad seat in Kerala, which he has won the second time, and retain Rae Bareli.

“We have requested Rahul to retain Rae Bareli and resign from Wayanad. There is also a suggestion to strengthen his bond with the people of Kerala by fielding Priyanka from there in the by-election. But we need to focus a lot on Uttar Pradesh,” said a senior Congress leader who didn’t want to be named.

The Congress has won
14 seats in Kerala out of 20
and six out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh.