It is rumoured in several spheres that Congress President Rahul Gandhi might also consider contesting from a seat in Southern India, apart from Amethi, in an attempt to boost the morale of party workers as it is considered.
As per sources, in the last few weeks, there has been an increasing demand from the leaders of Congress from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala for Rahul Gandhi to consider contesting from a seat of his choice in their respective states.
It is rumoured that Rahul Gandhi could consider Bangalore Central, Bidar and Mysuru from Karnataka, Kanyakumari and Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu and Wayanad in Kerala.
However, Rahul Gandhi is yet to take a call on the requests.
The Southern India has 130 seats out of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats.
39, 28,25, 20, 17 in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana and 1 in Puducherry respectively.
Presently, Karnataka is governed by Congress in an alliance with JD-S(Janata Dal-Secular). In Kerala Congress is the principal Opposition party.
In Tamil Nadu, Congress is in alliance with DMK(Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam).
However, Congress is considered to be weak in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
On Monday, Karnataka Congress President, Dinesh Gundu Rao formally invited Rahul Gandhi to contest from Karnataka, for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.
On behalf of @INCKarnataka I urge @RahulGandhi to consider contesting from Karnataka for the forthcoming #LokSabhaElection2019.
He should also be our representative from South India & for that he should choose my state.#RaGaFromKarnataka pic.twitter.com/Jk4ALMMLKK
— Dinesh Gundu Rao/ದಿನೇಶ್ ಗುಂಡೂರಾವ್ (@dineshgrao) March 15, 2019
In the year 1978, Indira Gandhi contested the Lok Sabha by-elections from Chikmagalur and won.
In the year 1999, Sonia Gandhi also contested the Lok Sabha seats of Bellary in Karnataka along with Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. In the polls, she defeated BJP leader Sushma Swaraj from Bellary and Sanjay Singh from Amethi.
However, the Congress is set to contest from Chikmagalur and JD-S from Bellary, as per their seat-sharing agreement.
Previously, in this month, the Congress announced that Rahul Gandhi will contest from Amethi and Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli.