With a responsibility on 41 seats, cannot focus on just 1: Priyanka Gandhi

New Delhi : Breaking her silence on why she did not contest the Lok Sabha Election 2019 against PM Narendra Modi in Varanasi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said she has a responsibility of 41 seats in Uttar Pradesh and could not focus on just one seat.

“I took the advice of all senior leaders of our party and colleagues in UP. They firmly felt that I have a responsibility here of looking after 41 seats. I felt that they (candidates) would be disappointed if I focused on only one place,” said Vadra on being asked about her nomination from Varanasi seat.

Till Congress' announcement, there was a heavy buzz that she might go for polls from the Varanasi seat; but a couple of days back, the party cleared that Ajay Rai will be a Congress candidate from Congress.

In 2014 as well, Ajay Rai had unsuccessfully contested the elections against PM Modi. He came a distant third by polling 75,614 votes as opposed to Modi who won by polling 5,81,022 as against the first runner-up Arvind Kejriwal (AAP), who bagged 2,09,238 votes.