[edit] Political career In 2003, there was widespread media speculation about Gandhi's imminent entry into national politics, which he did not deny.[citation needed] He appeared with his mother at public events and Congress meetings.[citation needed] He also travelled to Pakistan on a goodwill visit to watch the first series between the countries in 14 years in an ODI with his sister Priyanka.[10]
Speculation heightened in January 2004 about him and his sister's possible entry into politics when they visited their father's former constituency of Amethi, which their mother held at the time. He refused to give a definitive response, stating "I am not averse to politics. I have not decided when I will enter politics and indeed, if I ever will."[11]
In March 2004, he announced his entry into politics by announcing that he would contest the May 2004 elections, standing for his father's former constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament.[12] Before that, his uncle Sanjay held the seat before a plane crash. The seat had been held by his mother until she transferred to the neighbouring seat of Rae Bareilly. The Congress had been doing poorly in Uttar Pradesh, holding only 10 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state at the time.[13] At the time, this move generated surprise among political commentators, who had regarded his sister Priyanka as being the more charismatic and likely to succeed. Party officials did not have a CV ready f
