Mumbai, Nov 21 (IANS): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from his previous Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, a top leader said here on Tuesday.

UP Congress President Ajay Rai reiterated that the Gandhis have been working very hard for the people of Amethi since generations, and Rahul-ji will definitely contest from the seat in the 2024 polls.

In the 2019 parliamentary polls, in an embarrassing upset for the Congress, Rahul Gandhi had lost the Amethi seat to BJP's Smriti Irani by a margin of over 55,000 votes.

However, he had bagged the Wayanad seat in Kerala with a handsome margin of over 4.31 lakh votes to enter the Lok Sabha from South India for the first time.

This is the second time that Rai spoke about Rahul Gandhi’s possibility of returning to his old bastion Amethi after his previous statement to the effect in August in Lucknow.

Accompanied by Mumbai Congress President Varsha Gaikwad and others, Rai slammed the ruling BJP at the Centre and state for attempting to cash in on the opening of the Ram Temple by turning it into a political event.

“The construction of Ram Temple is a matter of faith and not for making it into a mega event. If there is enough faith, even a single lamp and solitary flower is sufficient. The BJP is indulging in all this to fool the people in an election year,” said Rai.