'Priyanka will take call on whether to fight poll or not'

Rahul said his party's soon-to-be released manifesto will reflect the people's voice and not just one man's view. 

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has not ruled out contesting the Lok Sabha election from a constituency other than Amethi, saying many party leaders have fought elections from more than one seat in the past and a decision on the issue will be taken by the party soon.

Referring to demands from party leaders that his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should contest, Gandhi told PTI in an interview that she will have to take a call on whether to fight the polls or not.

Speculation about the newly appointed Congress general secretary contesting grew after she asked people in Varanasi on Thursday whether she should fight the polls from the temple town, the constituency from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a re-election.

Amethi is his karmabhoomi (place where you are destined to work) and will remain so, Rahul Gandhi said, keeping his options open on fighting the election from a second seat amid demands from party units in Kerala and Karnataka that he should be fielded from their states.

"Amethi is my karmabhoomi and shall always remain so. I am deeply grateful for the love, affection and the sentiments expressed by our party workers in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala who have asked me to contest a second seat from their states," the Congress chief told PTI in response to a question on the speculation over him contesting from Wayanad in Kerala.

"In the past, too, many leaders from the Congress and other parties, including Mr Modi himself, have contested elections from more than one seat. The Congress party will take a decision on this issue at the earliest," he said.

In 2014, Rahul Gandhi defeated BJP's Smriti Irani by a margin of over one lakh votes. Both are pitted against each other again from Amethi.

Asked about Priyanka Gandhi contesting the election, the Congress chief said candidate selection is an ongoing process and the party has announced over 300 candidates so far.

"As far as Priyanka is concerned, it is up to her to decide if she wants to contest the election or not," he said.

On whether party veterans will be fielded by the Congress to put up a strong fight, Gandhi said the party has a system of identifying candidates and it goes through various processes.

"I have looked at young as well as experienced candidates equally because I have believed that Congress party needs both. Seniors are fighting elections. We also have many new faces who will be fighting their first election," he said.

There has been a clamour among Congress leaders from the south for Rahul Gandhi to contest from Kerala as well as Karnataka and the state units have already passed resolutions on the issue.

His mother, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, earlier contested from the Bellary Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka while his grandmother, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, had contested from Chikamangalur in Karnataka.

The process of nominations in Kerala, which goes to the polls on April 23, started on Thursday and will end on April 4.

'Our manifesto will reflect people's voice, not one man's'

Rahul said his party's soon-to-be released manifesto will reflect the people's voice and not just one man's view, a clear reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Gandhi also said the manifesto will lay major thrust on jobs creation, addressing agrarian distress and strengthening the education and health sectors besides charting a roadmap to boost economic growth.

The 48-year-old Congress president said the Congress-led UPA is storming back to power as people have rejected Modi's politics of "false promises".

"We want India's voice and aspirations to prosper. We don't believe in one man's voice. We believe in everyone's voice and choices. It requires tremendous discipline and hard work to do, but it works," he said.

The Congress chief said the party's manifesto is the result of extensive nationwide consultations and is a very "powerful" document aimed at redressing key challenges facing the nation.

Congress is set to release its manifesto next week, ahead of the first phase of polling on April 11.

Without divulging specific details of the manifesto, Gandhi said it will have a well-thought out "strategic plan" for creation of jobs on a "huge scale" and a roadmap for transformation of the agriculture sector as well as ways to boost small businesses and the economy at large.

Besides promoting entrepreneurship and industry, the Congress will also free businesses from the onslaught of "tax terrorism" and ensure fairness to small and medium traders, he said.

The Congress chief also said his party intends to significantly increase public investment in the education and health sectors which will help provide better facilities for the common person.

"Our manifesto has a commitment to increasing the expenditure on education and creating a high quality public education system. There is a tremendous amount of work that has gone into preparing our manifesto," he said.

"All this is ground breaking stuff. So yes, while the BJP's failures and Modiji's false promises and incompetence are certainly election issues, we have more than enough to share when it comes to our plans and our vision for India," he said.

Reflecting on his party's poor performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll when it just got 44 seats, Gandhi said it was an "aberration", asserting that the Congress is storming back to power.

"The Congress at one level is an organisation, but at another level, the Congress is a conversation."

"It is allowing people to speak. It is allowing multiple viewpoints. It is allowing our institutions to have their own independence. It is not imposing unwitting ideas, like demonetisation on the nation," he said.

He said the Congress party had got down to brass tacks after 2014 - to rework, rebuild and resurrect the organisation as a whole. This was initiated by decentralising power.

The party, through effective state leadership, reconnected with workers down to the booth level, he said, adding that it has been a priority and it has been successful as evidenced in the outcome of the recent state elections.

Gandhi said the Congress across India is naturally building up and strengthening, because the "more the RSS-BJP try to suppress the conversation, the more India wants to converse, think and grow".

Taking a dig at Modi's 'Congress Mukt Bharat' slogan, he alleged that what the PM actually meant was that nobody should be allowed to speak or think. "Nobody should be allowed to express themselves," Gandhi said.

"The Congress builds and grows in India when the conversation builds," he asserted.

Accusing Modi and the BJP/RSS of "imposing" their views on people, he said the Congress is not in the business of imposing ideas as it wants to listen and work together with all the stakeholders of this country.

"The RSS-BJP will say only one person speaks for India. It's impossible. As Congress president, I say with great humility that Congress will grow even more when it permits multiple different voices," he said.

Referring to the ambitious 'Nyay (Nyuntam Aay Yojna)' announced by him earlier this week, Gandhi claimed it threw the BJP into disarray.

"It's not my scheme; it's a scheme that has been created after listening to lakhs of people in our manifesto conversations," he said.

Gandhi said answers would come by talking to people on the street, as "we're just replicating their voice".

The Congress chief said a lot of farmers came to the party and asked for building infrastructure to help them put up a factory right near their farm, put food processing plants near agricultural areas and link those food processing units to the rest of the country.

"It's a great idea. They gave it to us, and we will implement it," he said.

"From my perspective, it is not only about farmers or Nyay or the youth or our women. It's also about industry, it's also about tax terrorism, it's also about fairness to small and medium businesses, it's also about entrepreneurship," he said.