Hamirpur (HP), May 3 (PTI) Congress has fielded Rahul Gandhi from the Rae Bareli constituency instead of Amethi as everyone in the party, right from top to bottom, is afraid of defeat, senior BJP leader Anurag Thakur said on Friday.

Addressing a gathering of 'Panna Pramukhs' in Sujanpur tehsil of Hamirpur, the Union minister said, "Congress party is looking completely hopeless and disappointed in these elections."

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He added that Rahul Gandhi had started out with the slogan of 'Daro Mat' but is now himself fearing defeat and therefore, switched from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat to Wayanad but was afraid of failing even there, so he decided to contest from Rae Bareli as well.

Thakur's statement against the former Congress chief comes amid Rahul Gandhi contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Rae Bareli seat vacated by his mother.

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Rahul Gandhi's defeat from both the places is certain and it seems that everything is not well at the top of the Congress, the Union minister said.

"We (BJP) contest elections on the basis of our development track record, resolve to address issues and ideology. Like 2014 and 2019, the people of Himachal Pradesh will again make the Bharatiya Janata Party win all the four seats here," he added.

Gandhi had lost from the Amethi constituency to BJP's Smriti Irani in 2019, but won from Wayanad in Kerala, a seat he is contesting this time as well.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)