After weeks of suspense and hours before the last date of nomination, the Congress High Command declared its candidates for the Rae Bareli and Amethi seats, the two bastions of the Gandhi family. While Rahul Gandhi shall be contesting the election from his grandparents and mother’s seat, Kishori Lal Sharma, unknown to many but the long-time manager of the two constituencies shall take on Smriti Irani from Amethi. The BJP has been quick to react and has described Rahul’s shift to Rae Bareli as “chickening out’’. However, the move appears to be tactical and gives Priyanka Gandhi, two options as and when she decides to enter the electoral arena. For the time being, the party wishes to utilize her services for campaigning; she has been attracting huge crowds at her public meetings and her counter attacks on the Prime Minister have left many in the Saffron Brigade speechless.
She could be the Congress nominee in the bye-election if Rahul emerges victorious from Rae Bareli , since it is unlikely that he shall give up on Wayanad, his base in the South. There were many eyebrows raised when Kishori Lal Sharma was chosen as the candidate from Amethi, a seat he has nurtured since the time Rajiv Gandhi hand-picked him along with some others for this job in 1984. Kishori Lal Sharma, himself appeared surprised with the declaration, but as a loyal soldier of the party and family, he has to now go through the paces.
He used to run a confectionary shop in Ludhiana when Rajiv Gandhi had identified him and put him in Amethi. He was in-charge for every election there till Rahul Gandhi, brought in his own team in 2009. Priyanka and Sonia retained him for Rae Bareli which he was also looking after additionally because of his strong bond with Captain Satish Sharma, the only person, outside the family who represented both these seats at different times. Kishori Lal Sharma had been drafted this time also but was working in the region since the past few weeks without realizing that he would himself be the nominee. About 20 days ago, he was in the capital but spent most of the time with his eye doctor in Faridabad. The Gandhis have immense trust in his abilities, and he had adopted a structured approach in nursing the two constituencies by dividing them into segments and executing his plans accordingly. He has both macro managed and micro managed Amethi and Rae Bareli , and is familiar with the turf and the people.
Thus, to write him off would be a folly and Smriti Irani is likely to have a real fight on her hands. Interestingly, the two Amethi nominees of the two national parties are both Punjabis given that Smriti Irani’s father was also one. The announcement has surprised many since it was expected that both the Gandhi siblings would be contesting. At one point it was also being speculated that Sonia may enter the fray from Rae Bareli despite being a Rajya Sabha member, and after winning, may vacate it for her daughter. Another school of thought is that like every Gandhi before her (Priyanka) and after Indira Gandhi, all members of the family have made their political debut from Amethi. This started with Sanjay Gandhi and after him, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul. Therefore, Priyanka could finally be a contestant there as well, but all this is subject to how the party views the emerging situation. By putting up Kishori Lal Sharma, the Congress perhaps wishes to send a message that even their manager and an ordinary worker was sufficient to take on Smriti Irani and the might of the BJP. Whether this would happen is something which time alone shall tell. Nevertheless, it would be a folly on the part of the BJP or any of the Congress opponents to take Kishori Lal Sharma’s candidacy lightly.
The BJP would obviously give it a different complexion but there is a real fight that is going to take place there, though many Congress supporters shall be disappointed with the choice since they expected the Gandhis to be championing their cause, and leading the Uttar Pradesh campaign from the front. There has also been this talk of differences within the Gandhi household regarding these two seats after Robert Vadra showed interest in contesting from one of them. At one point of time, it is being said that both brother and sister declined to contest. However, Sonia Gandhi, summoned a family meeting and spoke to both of them firmly and effectively. There was also a suggestion of Mallikarjun Kharge being fielded from Rae Bareli , which he himself turned down.
However, what was baffling was that there was no express need for the party to have so much of suspense over these two seats. This was probably done since there was indecision in view of the differences within the family over the candidacy. The BJP had at one stage put pressure on Feroze Varun Gandhi, who was denied the Pilibhit ticket, to contest from Rae Bareli which he declined. He was categorical that he would not fight against his family members or his cousins. The situation is that his mother Maneka Gandhi, is now fighting from Sultanpur; many areas were a part of the Amethi constituency when Sanjay Gandhi and later Rajiv Gandhi had fought from there. About six months back, there was this talk within the BJP that no member of the Gandhi family may make it to the Parliament in 2024. This is not likely to happen.