Amethi ticket to little-known Congman

LUCKNOW: Ending weeks of speculation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination papers for the general elections from his family’s bastion Rae Bareli in the presence of his mother and former Rae Bareli MP Sonia Gandhi, sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday.

This newspaper was the first to report on the buzz about Rahul entering the fray from Rae Bareli (April 30 edition).

With Rahul opting for Rae Bareli, the party gave the Amethi ticket to family faithful Kishori Lal Sharma, 63. Little is known about him except that he is a low profile operative and an errand boy of the Gandhi family in Rae Bareli. He, too, filed his papers.

Priyanka recalled her family’s long association with Sharma, adding: “He has been handling Amethi for a long time. When I had managed election for the first time in 1999, we had done it together. He knows every village and street of Amethi.” Rahul said, “I am happy that Kishori Lalji, who has been serving in the area for the last 40 years, will represent Amethi this time.”

Apparently, Rahul opted out of Amethi because he did not want the polls to be framed as a rematch between him and the BJP’s feisty Smriti Irani, who had defeated him in 2019. But by fielding the foot-soldier, the party appears to have thrown in the towel. When the SP allotted Amethi and Rae Bareli to the Congress, the understanding was the Gandhi siblings would enter the fray from there.

Sonia had represented Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha since 2004 before she vacated it.

Both seats are family: rahul

“My mother has handed over the karmabhoomi of our family with great trust giving me an opportunity to serve it. Amethi and Rae Bareli are not different for me. Both are my family,” Rahul said. The seat was earlier held by his grand mother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi thrice (1967, 1971, 1980) and grandad Feroze Gandhi in 1952 and 1957