Explained: How BJP Plans to Turn Tide Against Congress in Rae Bareli | Know the Strategy

Rae Bareli: The electoral battle ground is heated in Rae Bareli, which the locals prefer to describe as the VIP seat, with Congress fielding its popular face Rahul Gandhi. 

Gandhi, who filed the nomination papers for the Rae Bareli seat at the eleventh hour, has been pitted against BJP candidate and Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh. 

The BJP strategy to tackle Congress' 'masterstroke' hinges on the track-record of the Modi-Yogi double engine government, a term used by the saffron party to describe Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at Centre and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh. 

The BJP has already started taking on the Congress based on its decision to field Rahul Gandhi from the Rae Bareli segment, instead of Amethi which he represented for over decades. 

The BJP is hoping to pull off a major upset in Rae Bareli like Smriti Irani had in Amethi against Rahul during the Lok Sabha election 2019. 

The party sources claimed that all BJP MLAs in the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency will pitch for the party candidate in the upcoming campaigns. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also hold election campaigns in the region, which may come as a major setback for the Congress. The party will also urge the voters to support the local BJP candidate ‘who will always be available in the constituency as an MP.’

Another agenda on cards for the BJP is to target Rahul Gandhi using his decision to contest on ‘double seats.’ The saffron party already gave statements that Rahul Gandhi will select the Wayanad seat at the end. 

But Rahul dumping Amethi after losing to BJP in 2019 remains the key part of BJP's election campaign in the region. Rahul Gandhi has been accused of ‘running away’ from the electoral contest. 

PM Modi also attacked the Congress over its Rae Bareli move, saying that Rahul Gandhi should not be scared of the electoral contest. Taking the ‘shehzada’ jibe, PM Modi said that he had already predicted that Rahul Gandhi was going to lose the Wayanad seat and he will start looking for another seat. 

Addressing an election rally in West Bengal, PM Modi said, “I had already said that ‘shehzada’ was going to lose in Wayanad, he would start looking for another seat... He is so scared of Amethi that he is running towards Rae Bareli. They ask everyone ‘daro mat’. I also tell them today 'daro mat, bhago mat'.” 

Both Amethi and Rae Bareli have been Congress bastions, however, Rahul Gandhi lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi to BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani.

During his tenure from 2004 to 2019, Rahul Gandhi remained committed to Amethi until his defeat to the BJP. Last year, Sonia Gandhi relinquished the Rae Bareli seat after being elected to the Rajya Sabha. She had represented the Congress' longstanding stronghold in Rae Bareli for two decades, from 2004 to 2024.