Congress leader Jitin Prasada 'doesn't know' which seat he will contest from, says 'all speculations'

New Delhi: After keeping the rumour mills abuzz for over two days over which party he would represent in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, former Union minister and Congress leader Jitin Prasada on Saturday said that he doesn’t know which constituency he would contest from.

“These are all speculations…the party will come out with a list of candidates after the Central Election Committee meeting… I don’t know anything about differences,” he said when asked from where he would contest.

Speculations were rife on Friday after reports broke out that Prasada might defect to the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, later in the day, he clarified that he would continue being in Congress and that the question was ‘hyphothetical’.

“I am not going to join the BJP. Talks within the party are on for seat selection. I met with Scindia earlier today,” the Congress leader said yesterday.

If Prasada had indeed decided to join the BJP, it would have come as a big setback to the Congress party, especially its president Rahul Gandhi, just weeks before the Lok Sabha elections in April and May. Prasada, a two-time Congress MP from Dhaurahra, is very close to Rahul Gandhi.

Sources had earlier said that Prasada was unhappy with the distribution of tickets in Sitapur and Lakhimpur-Kheri districts in Uttar Pradesh. There were reports of back-channel talks being held between Prasada and the BJP leadership over the last few days.

In its first List of 184 candidates announced for the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, the BJP did not announce a candidate for Dhaurahra, further fuelling the speculation.