Rahul to contest from Amethi, Sonia from Rae Bareli

New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Congress President Rahul Gandhi will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from his traditional Amethi seat and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli, according to Congress's first list of candidates released on Thursday.

The list of 15 candidates includes four candidates from Gujarat and 11 from Uttar Pradesh. 

In Uttar Pradesh, the party has again fielded former Union ministers Salman Khurshid from Farrukhabad, Jitin Prasad from Dhaurahra and R.P.N. Singh from Kushi Nagar. 

The party has fielded former MP Annu Tandon from Unnao, Nirmal Khatri from Faizabad, Imran Masood from Saharanpur, Saleem Iqbal Shervani from Badaun, Rajaram Pal from Abkarpur and Brij Lal Khabri from Jalaun. 

In Gujarat, the party has fielded Raju Parmar from Ahmedabad West, Bharatsinh M Solanki from Anand, Prashant Patel from Vadodara and Ranjit Mohansinh Rathwa from Chhota Udaipur. 

The first Congress list has come even as the schedule of Lok Sabha elections has not been declared. 

With both Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi contesting, there is still speculation if Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is general secretary of eastern Uttar Pradesh, will enter the poll fray. 

The Congress, which is not part of Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh, is fighting the elections on its own though it has not ruled out possibility of alliance with smaller parties.

Party leaders said the list shows that the party will contest the elections "on the front foot" and strongly.