New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS): Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Thursday penned an emotional letter to the residents of her Parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli and shared reasons on why she decided not to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

She cited ‘health issues and increasing age’ as the reason behind not contesting the elections from Rae Bareli.

Sonia filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections from Rajasthan on Wednesday and was flanked by Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at the electoral office.

In a letter shared on X, she expressed gratitude to the people of Rae Bareli for unflinching support to the Gandhi family, through thick and thin of things and wrote, “Whatever I am today is because of you.”

Recalling the family’s ties with the Lok Sabha constituency, a Congress pocketborough for long, Sonia wrote, “Roots of our family in Rae Bareli is very deep. I know you will stand by me in future too.”

Notably, Sonia Gandhi’s decision to ‘call it quits’ from the heat of Lok Sabha elections, comes after her four consecutive terms as the MP from Rae Bareli.

Gandhi, reluctantly, made her debut in politics in 1999 and was elected as MP from Amethi. In the 2004 General elections, she was elected as an MP from Rae Bareli and led her party to power at the Centre.

Rae Bareli, a Congress stronghold, also witnessed defeat for the grand old party on three occasions since Independence. The first defeat came, soon after the 1975-77 'Emergency era'.