Rahul Gandhi | Rahul Gandhi Files Nomination | Rahul Gandhi Ditches Amethi,To Contest From Raebareli

Kanamethi and in Raeberry, the BSP used to come #2. So Rs Kushwah of the BSP at 16% vote and RB Singh of the BJP had less than 4%. This was the 2009 election. In the 14 election which is Narendra Modis first election, of course, the vote share of Sonia Gandhi did come down from 70% plus to 63%. The BJP had fielded Ajay Agarwal at that time. The BJP got 20% of the vote. The BSP got pushed to 3rd place to just about 7%. Then in the 2019 election, Sonia Gandhi took on Dinesh Pratap Singh who formerly used to be with the Congress and then of course he joined the BJP is an MLC of the BJP, a three term MLC. Her margin further came down from 3,00,000 plus it came down to about 1.61 point 7,00,000, a vote share of little over 55% and Dinesh Pratap Singh clocked just under 40%. Now this is the seat that Rahul Gandhi has decided to contest from in 2024. If you look at a METI, its a slightly different picture because there remember Rahul Gandhi lost the election in 2019 to Smriti Irani. The first election he fought was in 2004. Again in that election he had in excess of 65% vote. In 2009 when UPA Two came to power, he had more than 70% vote. Rahul Gandhi, the BSP had 14% and the BJP was at #3 with just under 6%. Then in the 2014 election, Mr. Modis first election, Rahul Gandhi again won the Amethi seat. But look at that margin From 70% it came down to under 50%, so 46 1/2%. And this was the first election that Smriti Irani fought from Amethi She garnered in that very first election more than 1/3 of the vote, 34% of the vote Smriti Irani managed to get and the BS PS DP Singh got pushed to 3rd place with just 6 1/2 percent vote. Then in 2019, when the giant was slayed, Smriti Irani became the giant Slayer of that election. She had just a shade under 50% of the vote share 49.7 and Rahul Gandhi had 43.8, a difference of about 5055 thousand votes Smriti Irani defeating Rahul Gandhi. So this was on the back of his mind when he decided not to contest from Amethi and instead contest from Raebareli. So yes, the overriding messages he’s preferred to take a safer seat. That of course is the BJPS messaging as well, that he’s run away from Ometi because he knows he doesn’t stand a chance in that seat. Its a much tougher seat. The Congress is saying why can’t he contest from Rai Bareli? After all, he’s free to contest from any one of the 543 constituencies that are going to polls. He has chosen to fight from Wayanad earlier. Now he’s choosing to fight from Rai Bareli enough. After all, Rai Bareli has historically a greater association with the Gandhi family than even a seat like Amethi. So that’s the Congresses justification. But were more interested in what signaling it sends out. What is the messaging it sends out to the Congress workers but more importantly to the voters of this country? Let me now open this up to our panelists. Sanju Verma is national spokesperson of the BJP. Dolly Sharma is spokesperson of the Congress Party. He’s also Lok Sabha candidate of the Congress Party contesting from Ghaziabad. Nalin Mehta is Managing editor of Money Control, Rashid Kidwais in a journalist who’s been covering the Congress party for a number of years. Now he is also joining us. Dolly Sharma. Let me ask you first what do you say to the BJPS contention today, Prime Minister? Said Omaran Chorke Bhagya to the BJPS contention that Rahul Gandhi wanted to pick a safe seat. He does not want to fight because he knows if he fights against Smriti Irani its going to be a tougher fight. He might even lose a second time. Therefore he is risk averse and that’s why he’s fighting from Raibareli. How do you respond to that? No, nothing. Nothing like it. Nothing like it at all. Both the seats, Amethi or rivalry are traditional seats from rivalry. Also Sonia Ji contested many times. Then Indra Ji also contested from the same seat. Feroz Gandhi Ji also contested from rivalry. So it is the choice of you know it is. I think Kharge Ji, the Congress president has decided which seat is Rahul Ji is going to fight. So ultimately the party president has given him, has asked him to fight from from RAIB. Really. And he’s fighting from RAIB really. No. But ma’am, can I give you the timeline, the sequence of events that happened April 26th, the final CEC, the Central Election committee meeting takes place. The decision is left to the Gandhis April 30th. Four days later the Gandhis hold a meeting. Rahul Gandhi denies he’s not going to contest. He says he will not give up wayanad 1st of April. The next day, Sonia Gandhi and Mr. Kharge step in to convince Rahul Gandhi. They say that will be a cakewalk for the BJP if he does not contest against Smriti Irani and Amethi 2nd of April. Then Amethi workers are told that Rahul Gandhi will be fielded and preparations are made in the Amethi office of the Congress party. And by 8:00 yesterday evening, there are Rahul Gandhi says no to Amethi and Congress party workers are made to bring down the cutouts and the decorations and banners and so on. Why all this drama when two weeks ago and the CEC concluded he could have said, I don’t want to fight Amethi. Let me fight from Raiba. Really. No, no, no drama at all Zaka. It is ultimately the decision of the Congress president. Party leaders in Rahul Gandhi. And if they are fighting from Raib really then then what is the harm in it? Let him contest. He’s fighting from why Prime Minister is fighting from why he’s not fighting from Gujarat, Why he’s fighting from Banaras. He’s ultimately its his choice. No? So if he wants to fight from Raib really he will fight from Raib. Really. KL Sharma is is a loyal party man. His work day and night in Amethi and Rivarelli, he worked closely. Every household of Amethi and Rivarelli knows KL Sharma. So KL Sharma G is fighting from Amethi and and hopefully he will win also. OK, so let me ask Sanju Varma. You know, Rai Bareli is one of 543 seats Mr. Gandhi is free to fight from wherever he chooses to fight. He fought from Wayanad last time and this time he’s now fighting from Rai Bareli. Also Rai Bareli seat has more historical, more emotional, more electoral connection with the Congress party than even Amethi Amethi Sanjay Gandhi first represented in 1980. Raibareli has been represented by Mr. Rahul Gandhis grandfather Feroz Gandhi way back in 1957 and sub subsequently its been held by his grandmother, his mother. So it has far more emotional and electoral quotient with the Congress party. So what’s wrong in him deciding to fight from Raibareli? You know, Zakah, there is nothing wrong in Rahul Gandhi choosing to abandon Amethi and deciding to contest from Rayabareli. It is his prerogative and the prerogative of Mallikarjun Kharge and the Congress party. So far, so good. But no matter how hard you try and with not, Rahul Gandhi has decided to leave the battlefield without even having the stomach to get into a fight. And in politics, if you don’t have the stomach for a fight, then you’re as good as done and dusted. And I’ll just tell you what, where a captain leaves a sinking ship, you say that the captain is a traitor. When an army general leaves his soldiers in the midst of a raging war high and dry, you call the army general a traitor. But you know very quickly, for the benefit of your audience, without being verbose, I’ll take 30 seconds to just tell you, you know there are three parts in a chess game, Zaka. There is the opening game, the middle game, and the end game, and the opponent is given the right to resign and withdraw from the game at any stage that he chooses to do so if he wish. If he feels that the other side you know is going to crush him, they say that if the you know person who’s eventually resigning or losing if he leaves in the opening game, they say he’s a coward, but he has etiquette. If he chooses to leave in the middle game, he’s also called a coward, but they say he’s got chess etiquette. But if he decides to lose, but also resigned in the end game, just, you know, a few moves before he’s going to be checkmated by his victorious opponent. They say that this man who’s eventually resigned and lost not only the coward but he lacks just etiquette because he did not even give his victorious opponent the pleasure of checkmating him brutally. And Rahul Gandhi has denied Smriti Rani the chance of brutally checkmating him. So Rahul Gandhi in chess parlance is a coward who lacks etiquette. Its interesting that you brought the chess analogy. Before I go to Nalin, Dolly Sharma, please respond. The chess analogy is interesting because Rahul Gandhi just put out a video I think yesterday saying how he thinks he’s the best politician who plays chess. And Sanju Verma says he has lost and and etiquette. Old chess etiquette was also not there. Yeah no, you you told that you know I contested from Ghaziabad. Yes, I did. I have a small question that General BK Singh, he fought Ghaziabad and in last elections he was continuously. He was an MP from Ghaziabad for last 10 years. He he won with the margin of 5,00,000 votes. And why he was not fielded again? And why did they give a ticket to the land mafia Atul Garg in place of our army generation, The party took your party. No, no, your party is also free. To take the question he he won with the margin of 5,00,000 votes in Ghaziabad. Why he was not fielded again. But it is ultimately the choice of party leaders. The party see ultimately it is the choice of party leaders, the party president, the CEC like we have in our party. They must be having some some people who sit and decide who’s going to fight which seat who’s you know the same way our party has a system but we also have just 111 clarification that system, 11 clarification before I go to Nalin Mehta. No, no, the clarify the difference is that if Mr. Gandhi said he wants to fight from await Amethi. I don’t think anybody in the Congress party with due respect to everyone in the Congress party. I don’t think even the Congress president would have said no. Whereas in the case of the BJP its the high command that took that decision and anyone in that party will not be able to say no. High command has not given me a ticket, therefore you know I’m leaving the party or there are instances of course in Rahul Kaswan for example in Churu has decided to rebel. Fair enough, no, no. But I’m just saying the the clarification is that Mister Gandhi decided not to fight in Amethi, not the Congress high command but Nalin Mehta. That’s not the point. The point is I think the the, the signal, the optics. We are just two phases down in this election. We have five more phases to go. Only 190 constituencies have voted so far. 300 plus are still going to vote. What sort of signal Nalin does it send? When Rahul Gandhi in the middle of this battle and he is the general, he is the man who’s hoping to unseat Narendra Modi. He decides not to contest from his traditional seat because that’s admitted. It is a tough fight. I just showed the dipping board, chair of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi in Amethi over the last three elections. Is he not sending out a signal that. Look, I don’t want to fight this tough seat. I don’t want to put up a fight in this tough seat. I would rather pick a quote UN quote safe seat and more importantly as as the PM said today the the messaging to the karyakartas and to the voters is photo medan chorke chalega. You’re absolutely right Zakah. The the, the signaling to Congress workers of of Rahul Gandhi decision not to fight from a Moti from a METI is is one of defeatism. The fact is that if you decided because you lost last time and I think that scarred him, I think the fact the decision not to fight and there are many reasons Congress leaders have put forward to explain the rationale. But the fact of the matter is the signaling is that the Congress is leaving the battlefield in the Hindi art land and sticking only to Rai Bareli and Rahul Gandhi does not see feel confident enough of winning in a MIDI to take the chance again. This is terrible signaling also if you you have to see it in light of a previous utterance in the past where he said is focused a lot in Wayanad, Kerala, the South India, North India divide, The Congress is giving a fight in certain states in the South but not in the north. And this is coming right from the top of the Congress. I think the the jibe from the Prime Minister of Darumarth Maidan, this is this has a ring of truth to it but he’s fighting from North India. He’s not giving up on North India. Rivali Rivali is very much in North India. He is, he is Zakah. But there is not a good enough difference. Amethi is a seat that Rahul Gandhi was the MP from from off from 22,004 onwards. Its one thing I heard the spokesperson saying earlier that talking about General VK Singh and others that’s see parties can make choices and Congress also made a choice. But the fact of the matter is Rahul Gandhi is not just another candidate. He is the face of the Congress. He is the the most powerful leader in the Congress party. Because he lost Amethi last time he’s decided not to take the take the chance of of losing again he and Smriti this allows with the Irani the the the the chance to kind of grow and say look he’s got scared scared of me that I think is terrible signaling to Congress Karakata on the ground who want to give give a fight. I want to ask Rashid Gidbhai the other I mean this is sort of unsaid or said in hushed tones but since you’re a you’re an insider in the corridors of the Congress. Rashid please you know give us an insight into what is going on there because the other signal that it also sends is and for the longest time you are aware of this. Everybody on this panel was aware that Sonia Gandhi has chosen to go the Rajya Sabha route because shes you know aged and shes health is not in the in the best of condition. Therefore shes decided to, you know go to go the Rajya Sabha route and shes now a member of the of the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan At that time and for the longest time since then, which is about I think 2-3 months ago, the speculation was that Rahul Gandhi will shift to Sorry, Rahul Gandhi will contest in Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi will contest from Rai Bareli. After all it was a mother seat and it was her grandmother seat and so on and so forth. But by doing what they have done now and Rahul Gandhi specifically because ultimately this decision was taken by Rahul Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi squarely nobody elses decision. This is his call. He’s taken that decision. By taking this decision, the signaling is also that in the Congress scheme of things he has first right of refusal. Sanju Varma is a, is a, is a has a corporate background. There is a There is a term called first right of refusal. When a company wants to acquire another company or take over another company, then there are certain people who have a first right of refusal. This decision by Rahul Gandhi shows he has the first right of refusal. If he doesn’t want to fight Amethi, then he has the first right of refusal. He doesn’t want to fight right. But really he wants to fight Wayanad or wherever else. Again, he has the first right of refusal, which means what? The Rashid. Rashid, you know, to give her credit, I think she was borrowing that analogy because Rahul Gandhi put out a video about chess. You must have seen it. You must have seen it. I saw that Zaka. The problem with the Congress is there is very little communication. They talk a lot but they don’t give out a picture. You see, Rahul Gandhi’s story of contesting from rivalry is a story of following coalition Dharma. You may recall the Congress and a Samajwadi Party have had alliance in Pradesh and that’s why Saudi party had given 17 seats when 17 seats Lok Sabha seats were given one of the conditions for one of the requests. Whatever, whichever way you look at it or that one of the, you know, Gandhi family members would contest from Uttar Pradesh and Rahul Gandhi is ordering that commitment because unless the opposition story is of one of success in Uttar Pradesh, then you know there is no way that Mister Modi can be stopped from getting you know, 300 plus or three if I may, if I may, you know, just just give me 10 seconds since you brought the Samajwadi Party analogy and said you know he’s for this is coalition Dharma and so on. The person who is most confounded today by this decision is actually Akhilesh Yadav. Because if if the Congress party did not want to fight a methi and wanted to give it to KL Sharma, and with with all respect to him, you know I don’t want to diss him. But surely he is not a heavyweight, he is a lightweight. If this was the intention of the Congress party, then they should have given the seat to to Samajwadi Party. And I’ll tell you why. There’s good reason for it in the assembly segments in Amethi. Out of the seven assembly segments that make up the Amethi parliamentary constituency, six of them are with the Samajwadi Party. There are 6 ML as out of seven from the Amethi parliamentary constituency who are SPMLA who are Samajwadi Party ML as so if the Congresses intention and if Rahul Gandhis intention was never to fight from Amethi in the 1st place, he should have given that seat to the SP. They should they would have put up a candidate. Yeah Zakir that has been a history. There are most Emilis from Amethi and Raebareli more so from Amethi have been from Samajwadi Party. See Kishori Lal Sharmas choice has to do you know what happened in Surat, what happened in Indore and what happened in Ahmedabad E when the Congress official candidates are you know defected. And in two cases in case of Indore and Surat, the Congress was left with no candidate. So Congress went for Kishori Lal because he was someone they could trust and somebody who understands amity consequence and someone who’s capable of you know, putting up some kind of fight in Amity. The outcome we would all will get to know on on on June 4th. I was telling you, so Rahul is entitled for us to go for a safe seat. There was a series of informal surveys were conducted and all surveys pointed at you know, smooth selling for Rahul in rival release. This is what Congress would not tell you. But Nolan wants to make every point And then then I’ll go back to the political spokespersons. Yeah, Nolan, yeah, you wanted to Rashid. Rashid the the A lot of people are thinking if you can flip the coin and say OK, what if there was one Gandhi family member from rivalry and one from Amethi? Why? Why See why seed one seat, a seat which has been a family pocket Burrow for generations. Why would you seed that in a high stakes contest which you are saying is a battle for democracy and all of that is that not does that not smack of defeatism? See, it is having a defeatist mindset is but is you know of no consequence defeat, electoral defeat matters a lot, Zakir, there are 34 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh where the India alliance has over 40% of vote share. So therefore there is an attempt unless the Congress and Samajwadi Party more so Samajwadi Party let’s 253040 odd seats of Uttar Pradesh. There is no way that Mister Modi or BJP can be stopped. What I’m saying is this is part of that strategy. Please don’t stop focusing on Raibareli and Amiti. There was in consequence one seat of Raibareli would not make difference to the you know the Congress Lok Sabha tally. So. So Sanjay Varma one seat will not make a difference. Also you know this narrative that the Gandhis are now are fleeing away from North India. They’re going off to South India by contesting in Raibareli. He’s very much saying that he’s in the Hindi heartland. No, I completely agree with you that by deciding to contest from Raibareli, the Gandhis have shown that they are not willing to abandon the Hindi heartland. But where I would like to disagree very humbly and respectfully with Mr. Kidwai is when he says that you know Zaka one seat in Raibareli RNA. He is not going to make a huge difference. I beg to differ. And I beg to differ because there are some seats. Which are not just about numbers. For instance, Amethi is not just another seat in Uttar Pradesh. Rayad really is not just another seat in Uttar Pradesh. I mean Rayad really has been with the Gandhis for 44 years from 1980 till now. And Amethi has been with the Gandhis from 1980 to 39 till 2019 for 39 years. You know one way it was with them till Rahul Gandhi was dislodged in 2019. The key point to notice here is this that there are certain seats if the tallest leader contests. From there, you energize your caddle. You galvanized your caddle. You send a larger message that I have the stomach for a fight and Rahul Gandhi recently, what did he say? I have to say this zaka Rahul Gandhi. This video is wider on social media. Narendra Modi Yeah yeah, Narendra Modi. Yeah, Chin Ki baat karta hai. Yeah, Pakistan Ki baat karta hai. But is Maria Narendra Modi bachke Nikal nahi payega? Forget about the fact that addressing somebody who’s 2025 years older to you and is the sitting PN, you’re saying, yeah, Narendra Modi. You don’t even add the word Sri or Narendra Modi Ji. I’m not even talking about his etiquette decorum. I’m talking about the larger fact that Rahul Gandhi has always projected himself as the man who’s not only the PM aspirant, but the man who’s going to dislodge the throne, Narendra Modi, in more ways than one. You don’t do that by leaving your soldiers on the battlefield to fend for themselves. And last but not the least, just in 10 seconds. Zakah. People who say that Smriti Rani is going to lose because shes done no substantive work in a meeting the last five years in 10 seconds, in the last five years 3.5 lakh water connections in Amethi alone, 1.6 lakh electricity connections in Amethi alone. 262 villages in Amethi have got Pakka roads in the last five years. 1.34 lakh homes under the Pradhan Mantri Agraj Yojana scheme in Amethi year old, 4.34 lakh toilets built in Amethi year old under the Swach Bharat sanitation scheme. So if you’re saying Smriti Irani has zero to show my way of report card, you’re backing up the wrong three. OK, I want to get Dolly Sharma. There’s one other problem. Dolly Sharma. Assuming Mr. Gandhi wins, let’s say both in Raibareli and in Wayanad, he has to give up one seat. Because you know, Raebareli seat has had so much association with the Gandhi family, We can presume that he will keep that seat and he will give up Wayanad when that happens, two things. One, already the CPI candidate there, Rani Raja has said that, look, this is exactly what we were saying, that ultimately he will have to give up the seat of Wayanad. And two, what sort of messaging does it send out to the voters of Wayanad? The Kerala Assembly election is just two years away. Rahul Gandhi would have taken them for a ride then by contesting from there winning from there only to give up that seat. So he should not have contested from Wayanad in the 1st place which is what the the CPI candidate there has been saying from day one. Ultimately its the choice of Rahul Gandhi Ji which seat he’s going to keep whether rivalry or Amethi #1 #2. Yes, Smriti Rani has done nothing in Amethi. The numbers that you have got is like the fake numbers that you people always get. You people, says Har Ghar JAL. You come to Ghazabad. I’ll show you the places where there’s no water even today. So your numbers are literally like that. Triple ITS are closed. Hospitals are closed. There are steel plants that are closed. Amethi, which Congress Congress developed. What are you talking? The work that shes done, shes done nothing in rivalry. KL Sharma has worked day and night for Amethi and rivalry. Every household of Amethi knows KL Sharma and he’s going to win from Amethi. You wait and watch. But ma’am, if. If. If. As you say. If. As you say, Smriti. No, no, let, let me, let. Let me. Daliji. Daliji. Let. Let me, let me give you the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, Let me give you the benefit of the doubt. Yes. OK. I agree. You are saying that Smriti Irani has not done any work in Amethi. If that is the case, if people of Amethi are angry with her, if there is massive anti incumbency against her, all the more reason why Rahul Gandhi should have stood in that seat. He should have fought from that seat. See Zakah. Ultimately its our choice. No, it is the choice of Congress party. Whether we want to feel the candidate, whether we want to feel Rahul Gandhi. Congress president wants to feel Rahul Gandhi there or not. Its our choice. We will not make our choices. As for the BJP, it is not the BJP who has to decide our candidates. Its the Congress party ultimately who has to decide the candidates on which seat, which candidate has to be fielded. Yeah. Rashid. And then I’ll Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rashid wanted to make a point. Yes, yes. Sanju Varma after that, Yeah. Rashid. Thank you. I am saying, look whether the Congress retains its question or not. A simple thing Zaka about 2024 Lok Sabha is very clear. The Congress performance is directly, you know, linked to BJPS performance or the other way round. If Congress is sticks to its, you know, tally of 50 or less, BJP will easily cross 350 plus. If the Congress gets, you know, then the BJP will be just around 300 seats. If Congress crosses 100 that the BJP will be short of, you know, majority. This is the question is known. So therefore I’m saying it is not a story about driver Ali Amity. It’s about whether as Akhilesh Yadav said Uttar Pradesh, whether they are you see the alliances having to get you know 20-30 seats in Uttar Pradesh or not, that would matter. Similarly they just be holding on to Bihar or Maharashtra Rashid. There’s one small problem in that argument. I buy your argument, its a psychological argument and and fair enough. The only problem is if on the ground the sentiment is that Congress will cross 75 or Congress will cross hundred, the first people who will know that are the netas. Certainly the Congress netas will know and even more than that the BJP netas will know right. And if the sentiment on the ground is that Congress is crossing 75 or Congress is crossing 100, then there is something called a domino effect. Then definitely in the so-called bastion seats of the Congress they will win. If the mood is that Congress is going to cross 75 or Congress is going to cross hundred then definitely in the bastion seats they will win. Its called a domino effect in in elections. That’s how Bastion seats fall. So when in 2014 the Modi Jaggernaut they won 282 seats, many seats that were held by the opposition for decades fell because its the domino effect. So if as you say, you know the mood on the ground is 75 plus for Congress or 100 plus for Congress, all the more reason why Rahul Gandhi should have, should stay in Amethi, should, should actually contest in Amethi because Amethi would. He would be able to rest back Amethi because of the domino effect, The fact that he realizes that Pachitarparka moved nahi abhi Deshmuya saw Pargi moved nahi abhi. That’s probably why he’s decided not to contest from Amethi. That may be the case. But Zaka, you cannot stop Rahul Gandhi from trying. They got surveys, internal surveys done in surveys that dicted a kind of, you know, smooth, easy victory in rivalry and not so, you know, easy going in Amethi. So if he has taken a call, the Congress person may not say it, but as a political analyst, I can say that that Rahul Gandhi is gone for a safe seat because he cannot afford to lose under the same from same opponent. Sanju Arma, since you gave a chess analogy, let me give you a cricket analogy. Right there there are in the Indian cricket team. I don’t want to take anybodys names but there are in the Indian cricket team, in the T20 team cricketers who scored a little over a run a ball, their strike rate is maybe 100 hundred and 10120. And then there of course there are the young lot whose strike rates are 100 and 5200. But there’s a place for those old war horses who are scoring at hundred 120 also. So if Rahul Gandhis calculation is that, look, I’ll take the safe seat. A it enables me to campaign in other parts of the country because I am the face of the opposition. I am the face of the Congress party, the star campaigner. So therefore let me take the safe seat. If there’s place for old war horses in the in the cricket team, why not for old war horses in the Congress party? Sanju Verma Zaka, can you hear me? Yeah, yeah, I can hear you. Yes. OK, Zakah, you know, I want to say a couple of things. You know, we are assuming that Rahul Gandhi will win Wayanad. But, you know, I think that is a very presumptuous conclusion to make at this stage. Because don’t forget that Karnataka became a state in November 1956 in the last 68 years. Karna, sorry, Kerala. Kerala became a state in November 1956, and in the last 68 years, Kerala has been ruled either by the Congress or the Left or by a Congress centric alliance or a Left centric alliance. And I was horrified to know that why not today? Why not? Today continues to be amongst the 250 most backward regions in the country. Why not today? Has a female labour force participation rate lower than the national average? Why not? Today has lower electricity connections than the national average. Why not today has lesser number of pilots than the national average. And the reason being that the Pinaray Vijayan government and Rahul Gandhi, they’ve refused to implement central government schemes of the Modi government in wayanad. Nothing could be more shameful. OK, I’ll give Nalin the final. I’ll give cut my nose to spite the face. I’ll give Nalin the final word. Nalin very quickly. What? What may this mean? How will this shape not just the battle for Uttar Pradesh but the remaining phases? Because I am of the firm belief that this will have resonance beyond Uttar Pradesh as well. This, this signaling will send out a sort of negative message, if you will, certainly to Congress, Karygatas and maybe even to the voters. Who knows? No, I agree, Zaka, because politics is about momentum. It is about optics. When when Narendra Modi became the BJPS Prime Minister prime ministerial candidate in 2014, he went to Banaras. He could also have contested from you know, he. The reason is because the road to power in Delhi goes through Lucknow and goes through UP. If you are not going to be fighting in your own one of your core bastions, you’re fighting only from Raibareli. It does send a signal that the Congress sire and not confident of victory there. And we can justify in whatever way one does. But there is an electoral common sense that the voter sees and this is in negative signaling that doesn’t. That signifies that the Congress is not that confident in its court bastions. All right, well leave it to that. Certainly like I said, the first people who know what is happening on the ground are the netas. And in this case Rahul Gandhi deciding not to contest from a methi. I guess he has sensed that its a tougher fight, certainly a tougher fight than Riber really, and therefore he wants to take the safer option. But the signaling that it sends, I think, is not particularly a flattering one for the Congress will leave it at that.