- Friday, October 18, 2024
In Amethi, which Rahul Gandhi lost to current minister Smriti Irani in 2019, a non-Gandhi was nominated in the form of KL Sharma.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Indian opposition Indian National Congress arrived at a decision about its candidates from the two key constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on the 11th hour on Friday (3), hours before the deadline for filing nominations ended.
It was decided that former president Rahul Gandhi would contest from Rae Bareli, a seat which has been vacated by her mother Sonia Gandhi, who had won from there since 2004 and has now shifted to the Rajya Sabha or Upper House of the parliament.
He will contest against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Dinesh Pratap Singh, a member of the Uttar Pradesh government who had lost the 2019 polls from the seat constituency.
In Amethi, another stronghold of the Gandhi family over the decades, however, a non-Gandhi was picked in the form of KL Sharma. He is known to be a long-time loyalist of the Gandhis. He is also the first from outside the family to contest from the Gandhi bastion after the late Satish Sharma who won from there in 1996.
Read: Irony! India’s Congress yet to finalise candidates from Gandhi bastions for elections 2024
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had nursed Rae Bareli for a long time on behalf of her mother, did not agree from the same.
Both Rahul Gandhi and Sharma will file their nomination papers on Friday. Amethi and Rabe Bareli, which is the Congress’s last remaining constituency in Uttar Pradesh, will go to elections on May 20.
The Grand-Old Party’s decision came after weeks of suspense.
However, concerns could still remain for the party.
Read: ‘Pakistan’s former minister praised Rahul Gandhi under Modi pressure’
For one, Rahul Gandhi is also contesting from Wayanad constituency in the southern state of Kerala. If he wins both the seats, then he would have to vacate one of them. It was the southern seat that had given Gandhi an opportunity to become a parliamentarian after he lost his old base of Amethi to Indian women and child development minister Smriti Irani in 2019.
Last year, he returned as the MP from Wayanad after getting disqualified as an MP over his conviction in a case related to alleged insult of the ‘Modi’ surname at an election rally in 2019. Given both Wayanad and Rae Bareli are Congress strongholds, the question of vacating any one provided Rahul Gandhi wins both would pose more questions to the party.
Secondly, Vadra’s decision against contesting from Rae Bareli could add more to the party’s discomfort. Many leaders of the party believe it would send a negative message in the middle of the elections over its likely outcome. Sources said Vadra’s hesitation stemmed from the fact that her win from Rae Bareli could reinforce the BJP’s allegations of dynastic politics against the Congress, since all the three Gandhis would be in parliament (Sonia in Rajya Sabha and the two siblings in Lok Sabha).
Irani, who avenged her 2014 loss against Rahul Gandhi five years ago, told NDTV broadcaster a few days ago that the Congress delayed picking its candidate because the party feared yet another defeat in Amethi.
