Priyanka Gandhi to contest against PM Modi in Allahabad?

New Delhi, Apr 22: Even as there is no clarity on whether Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra possibility of contesting Lok Sabha elections 2019, it's raining offers for her from various parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Now, there has been some speculation that Priyanka may fight from Allahabad seat against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A senior party leader who is a close aide of Priyanka have urged her to fight from her party's former stronghold of Allahabad, which was renamed Prayagraj last year.

Earlier on April 21, Priyanka said she will contest from the constituency if her brother, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, asks her to do so.

Priyanka had herself fuelled the buzz with her "why not Varanasi" quip while interacting with the Congress cadre who wanted her to contest from Rae Bareli, the constituency of her mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi, in an interview to The Hindu on April 18, refused to rule out the option of his sister taking on Modi in Varanasi.

However, the Congress president and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi are expected to take a decision whether Priyanka Gandhi should contest.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept eastern UP in the 2014 polls, winning 71 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. It holds 27 out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in the region that includes Varanasi.

The region will go to the polls in the last three phases of ongoing national elections on May 6, 12 and 19.

Polling for the Allahabad Lok Sabha seat will be held on May 12, and April 23 is the last date for filing nominations for it. Varanasi goes to the polls in the last phase on May 19. The last date of filing nominations for the seat is April 29.

Congress' popularity has taken over the region since the last two decades. However, Actor Amitabh Bachchan was the last Congress candidate to win from Allahabad in 1984.