'Had Priyanka contested...': Rahul Gandhi makes bold claim about Modi's stronghold Varanasi

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday (June 11) exuded confidence that had his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contested the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 from Narendra Modi's Varanasi seat, she would have defeated the Indian prime minister by over "two-three lakh votes".

Gandhi's remarks came while addressing a public rally in Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli, where he secured a win by a massive margin in the general elections.

"The BJP lost the Ayodhya seat... Not only in Ayodhya, Varanasi mein jaan bacha ke nikle hain pradhan mantri [In Varanasi, the PM just about saved his life]. If my sister (Priyanka Gandhi) had contested from Varanasi, the Prime Minister of India would have lost the Varanasi election by 2-3 lakh votes," Gandhi said.

"I am not saying this with arrogance, but the people of the country have given a message to the Prime Minister that they are against their way of politics."

Varanasi is the Bharatiya Janata Party's bastion and PM Modi's stronghold as he won the seat for the third consecutive time defeating Congress' Ajay Rai, but by a massively reduced margin of 152,513 votes.

Gandhi further said, "I want to thank all the leaders and the members of the Congress party and the people of Amethi and Raebarelli for making us win. This time, the Congress party fought unitedly in Amethi, Raebarelli, Uttar Pradesh and across the country. I want to tell the Samajwadi Party that your leaders fought unitedly with Congress leaders this time."

"Be it Manipur, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, we fought unitedly. When I contemplate why it happened, I realise that the soul of the country sensed that Narendra Modi ji and Amit Shah ji were trying to play with the Constitution, which is the very foundation of our country," he added.

'People of India made PM Modi bow down to the Constitution,' says Gandhi

The Congress MP further said that the people of Uttar Pradesh declared their verdict against "hatred", "violence" and "arrogance" in the polls.

"Secondly, in 2024, the political landscape of the country witnessed a change. For the first time, we saw that the prime minister was doing politics of religion and violence, which is against the culture of the country. The right path was shown by Amethi, Raebareli and Uttar Pradesh. The people of Uttar Pradesh voted against hatred, violence and arrogance", he said.

He then said that the people of the country made PM Modi bow down to the Constitution.

"You have made Kishori Lal Sharmaji win in Amethi, me in Rae Bareli, and the MPs of the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh... You have changed the politics of the entire country... The public has sent a message to the prime minister of the country that if he touches the Constitution, then see what people will do to him. You have made him bow down in front of the Constitution", he said.

Congress put out on display an outstanding growth in over a decade in this year's Lok Sabha polls, defying all that the exit polls and BJP had predicted.

The grand old party won 99 seats, showing a jump in its tally of 52 registered during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 44 in 2014.

Gandhi triumphed in the Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Kerala as he polled 647,445 votes and won by a margin of 364,422.

(With inputs from agencies)