Lok Sabha elections | Has Congress stooped to conquer Amethi, Raebareli?

The idea behind Congress Party’s keeping off Rahul Gandhi from the contest for Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi Lok Sabha seat and moving him to another Nehru-Gandhi family bastion of Raebareli is to take a break from the past, and follow a little different path this time. Unlike the 2019 polls, when the BJP bet Smriti Irani trounced Rahul, she is now going to face one of the Congress’ top family loyalists, Kishori Lal Sharma, in Amethi.

Sharma hails from Ludhiana in Punjab. But he has been Congress party’s pointman for both Amethi and Raebareli constituencies since 1983. Thus, for four decades Sharma has been a familiar face to the constituents of the two Lok Sabha seats. His candidature from Amethi by Congress is going to showcase easy accessibility to him vis-à-vis his BJP rival who, because of being a Union minister, has often been more preoccupied than him.

Yet, Irani has been trying her best through last five years to spare time and thought for the constituency so as to ward off any anti-incumbency that could crop up through her term as the MP.

Grass-root approach

Still, unlike the minister, Sharma is self-effacing, simple-living and soft-spoken. This, in the assessment of his Congress bosses, is going to remind the electorate of his grass-root approach while his critics find him to be a rather poor or weak choice to be pitted against a virtual swashbuckler like Irani. It is thought to be so since she could make her way from being a small-screen actress to the not only rough and tumble of today’s politics but also could become a cabinet minister at the Centre.

In any case Sharma’s candidature in Rahul’s former constituency for the May 20 polls seems to be quite a climb down for the Congress and his chances, according to sources, would depend on how the party move is going to be viewed by Amethi’s voters. It is more so since there has been a huge demand for Rahul’s candidature from Amethi.

As for the reasons behind the Congress’ choice falling on Sharma, the party’s old-timers feel that in his case the risk factor has to be reckoned with more than anything else. In case of throwing Rahul again in the battle for Amethi the party could have ended in setting off a bitter battle that could have cast a shadow over his campaign through the rest of the five phases of polls spread across the country.

Keeping Sonia’s promise

Thus, the party thought it best to shift Rahul to Raebareli and thereby keep the promise made by Sonia Gandhi when she moved to Rajya Sabha recently. In a letter to the voters of the constituency that had elected her repeatedly, Sonia had said that she would continue to have her old family ties with the people of Raebareli. It was the lone UP constituency that had sent a Congress candidate to the Parliament in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Throughout the state the party had faced humiliating defeat and the scenario was different in Amethi where Rahul lost to Irani by about 50,000 votes.

Earlier, there were speculation about Priyanka Gandhi’s candidature from either Raebareli or Amethi. But this possibility came to a naught when Congress’ bets for the two constituencies were announced on Friday (May 3) morning. It turned out to be so because this time party higher ups expect Rahul to win from both Raebareli as well as Wayanad. The latter is the other Lok Sabha seat in Kerala that Rahul won the last time and has again contested this time.

Priyanka in reserve

Obviously, Priyanka is being kept in reserve as of now so that she can well try her luck subsequently from one the two constituencies that Rahul will have to vacate, giving way to a bypoll after the results are out on June 4.

The decision to field Rahul from Raebareli and Sharma from Amethi has an unmistakable stamp of Sonia Gandhi. Congress’ old hats point to Sonia’s scepticism that has primarily led to Friday’s decision. “Sonia always weighs her and the party’s limitations first. She knows how to stoop to conquer and this has brought results in the past too,” said a party insider to justify her move regarding the two high-profile UP constituencies.

Both Sonia and Priyanka accompanied Rahul to Raebareli where Rahul filed his nomination papers on Friday. Later in the day Priyanka was slated to visit Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra, as part of her continuing poll campaign. Among other things, the town being visited by the other Gandhi family scion is famous for the mausoleum of medieval era’s Sufi-saint Sheikh Salim Chishti. The legend has it that the saint’s devotees’ wish, who visit to pray at his final resting place, is generally granted and fulfilled.