Sonia Gandhi had announced in 2019 that it would be her last Lok Sabha election.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi's decision to opt for the Rajya Sabha is an admission of a "looming defeat" of the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the BJP said on Wednesday.
The BJP's reaction came after Mrs Gandhi filed her nomination papers in Jaipur for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Rajasthan.
Her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra and Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully were present at the time of the nomination filing in the assembly building.
Commenting on the development, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya in a post on X said, "After Congress' crushing defeat in Amethi, Rae Bareli was next. Sonia Gandhi's decision to opt for Rajya Sabha is an admission of a looming defeat."
Mr Malviya said the Gandhis have now deserted their "every supposed stronghold" with the former Congress president deciding to take the Rajya Sabha route instead of contesting the Lok Sabha elections from her family pocket borough Rae Bareli.
"The Congress will draw a blank in UP, despite 11 seats offered by the SP (Samajwadi Party)," the BJP leader said.
The Congress is comfortably placed to win one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan for which the elections will be held. The seat will fall vacant after former prime minister Manmohan Singh completes his six-year tenure in April.
It will be Sonia Gandhi's first term in the Upper House after serving five terms as a Lok Sabha MP.
The 77-year-old, who represented Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency, was first elected as an MP in 1999 from there after taking over as the Congress president.
Sonia Gandhi had announced in 2019 that it would be her last Lok Sabha election.
She will be the second member of the Gandhi family to enter the Rajya Sabha after former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was a member of the Upper House from August 1964 to February 1967.
BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said Gandhi has filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls because she cannot face the people of her constituency.
"This is fear of people. When you loot and indulge corruption, you cannot face people," he told reporters at the BJP headquarters.
Mr Bhatia said the Gandhi family has left Uttar Pradesh because it knows that all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state are going to the BJP's kitty in the forthcoming general elections.
"First Rahul Gandhi lost in Amethi and fled from there. Out of fear, now Sonia Gandhi ji is filing nomination from other state, leaving UP," the BJP spokesperson said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)