As the Lok Sabha polls begins, The Quint reached Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur Sikri to speak to Congress candidate Raj Babbar, who explained the challenges the party faces and its preparation going into the elections.
On being asked whether he was fighting polls on local issues or the Rafale case, Babbar said that he would concentrate on his constituency’s issues. “Solving people’s problems is my priority. I will work for development of the area”, he told The Quint.
On being asked why Rahul Gandhi was fighting from Wayanad as well as Amethi, Babbar pointed that even Narendra Modi had contested from Vadodara and Banaras, while Atal Bihari Vajpayee had fought from Lucknow and Gandhinagar.
"Rahul Gandhi is not limited to one area, he’s a national leader. People of Kerala wanted him to contest from Wayanad,” he said.
Talking about his decision to contest from Fatehpur Sikri after previously contesting from Moradabad, he said that this was his home and that the Congress had decided it was in the party's best interests.
Responding to a question about how many seats the Congress would win in the country, Babbar replied that they needed the blessings of the people.
“We are fighting and working for the people. With their blessings, we will get enough seats”, he told The Quint.
He also reiterated his confidence in the party, saying that the Congress did not need to stop the BJP. "The people will stop them. In Karnataka, they had said 200-plus. People stopped them. They always say plus, people do the minus", he added.
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