RAHUL MAY FIGHT FROM TWO SEATS

Three seats in the South have been shortlisted: Medak, Alappuzha and Chikmagalur.

It is final. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is all set to contest from two Lok Sabha constituencies for the 2014 general elections. He will seek his re- election from Amethi, besides contesting from a constituency in South India.

Sources in the Congress said that three seats from the southern states have been shortlisted for him: Medak in the Telangana region, Chikmagalur in Karnataka and Alappuzha in Kerala. Medak was represented by Rahul’s grandmother Indira Gandhi between 1980 and 1984, and the former Prime Minister, while on her comeback trail had also won from Chikmagalur in Karnataka during the Janata Party regime in the late 1970s. Alappuzha is currently represented by K.C. Venugopal, Minister of State for Civil Aviation in the UPA government.

Speculation over Medak being a possible second seat for Rahul gained momentum after the sitting MP and Telugu actress M. Vijayashanthi, a member of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi ( TRS), joined the Congress earlier

Chikmagalur has been shortlisted because of its connect with Indira Gandhi, who had won from there in a 1978 byelection.

this week. The admission of the actress, while talks about a possible merger of the TRS with the Congress were still in progress, raised many eyebrows in the state’s political circles. Besides Vijayashanthi, who has expressed her