Ending prolonged suspense, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday filed his nomination from Rae Bareli, while Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma filed his papers from Amethi on the last day of filing nominations for the two prestigious Lok Sabha constituencies.

Taking forward the legacy of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi, Rahul will face BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh from Rae Bareli on May 20 in the fifth phase of the general election.

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Rahul is also contesting from Wayanad in Kerala, the seat he currently represents in the Lower House of Parliament. Polling in Wayanad was held in the second phase on April 26.

Rahul was accompanied by his mother Sonia, sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, brother-in-law Robert Vadra and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. They attended a ‘havan puja’ (prayers) before leaving for the Collectorate to file the nomination papers.

The leaders got a rousing welcome from party workers who raised slogans of “Rahul Gandhi Zindabad’ and ‘Congress Zindabad”.

Priyanka, who accompanied her party candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli, would be leading the campaign in both the places from May 6.

Addressing a road show, the Congress general secretary said the Gandhi family was in Amethi for “politics of truth”. She said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contests elections with money power, but “will win by fighting with public power”.

“I have full confidence that you all will make the Congress candidate win. It is your fight and you have to win,” she told the crowd.

On party candidate Kishori Lal Sharma, Priyanka said, “Kishori Lal ji knows every village of Amethi, recognizes everyone and has been watching the work here for a long time.”

Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh will take on the Gandhi scion from Rae Bareli. He also filed his nomination on Friday.

Singh will face the Gandhi family for the second consecutive time on the high profile seat. In 2019, the former Congress leader had contested the election against Sonia, but lost by 1.64 lakh votes.

The Rae Bareli seat fell vacant after Sonia resigned after being elected to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan.

Talking about the history of the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat, Firoz Gandhi first contested the election from here in 1952 and won. He also won the seat in 1958. After his death, his wife Indira Gandhi started her political innings from this seat in the 1967 election. In 2004, Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law Sonia contested the election and was elected as the Member of Parliament five times.

Before been elected to Rajya Sabha, Sonia had penned an emotional letter to the people of Rae Bareli, which went viral on social media. Since then, speculations have been rife that someone from the Gandhi family will definitely contest the elections from Rae Bareli.

Priyanka Gandhi’s name was doing the rounds from here, but on this occasion, it was announced that her brother Rahul Gandhi would contest the elections.

However , in the Amethi seat, it is being said that KL Sharma has received a reward for his loyalty from the Gandhi family.

He is originally from Ludhiana, Punjab. In 1983, Rajiv Gandhi brought him to Amethi for the first time. Since then he stayed here. Even when the Gandhi family stopped contesting elections from here after the death of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, Sharma continued working for the Congress Party.

After Sonia Gandhi was elected MP from Rae Bareli, he worked as her representative. When Sonia Gandhi did not contest the elections, Kishori was considered a contender from Rae Bareli, but the party has made him a candidate from Amethi instead of Rae Bareli.

Gandhi family has held the Amethi seat since 1999. In 1999, Sonia Gandhi contested her first election from Amethi, one of the high profile seats of UP.

Later she left this seat for Rahul Gandhi in 2004. Rahul Gandhi won the elections in 2004, 2009, 2014 but he lost the election in 2019 to BJP’s Smriti Irani.

In 1998, Captain Satish Sharma, close to the Gandhi family, had contested elections from this seat, but lost to Sanjay Singh of BJP.

Since then, Amethi is considered the Congress bastion. Rajiv Gandhi had won from here four times, Rahul Gandhi thrice, and Sonia Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi once each.