Lucknow, Oct. 4 -- Samajwadi Party (SP) Rajya Sabha MP Shiv Pal Singh Patel on Saturday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi "ran away" from Amethi in the last Lok Sabha elections, as friction between the INDIA bloc allies over seat-sharing for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls continued.

Speaking to ANI, Patel said Gandhi has no real ground reality in the state. "Rahul Gandhi doesn't really have one either. The ground reality here is this: we remember that in the last MP elections, they ran away from Amethi. Why did they run away from Amethi? They were scared; they had already lost once," he said.

He said Gandhi eventually agreed to contest from Raebareli after SP president Akhilesh Yadav advised him to contest from the party's tradit...