Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Putting to rest the spate of speculations and suspense over its candidates in high-profile seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli, Congress announced that Rahul Gandhi, sitting MP from Wayand, will contest from his mother Sonia Gandhi’s stronghold in Rae Bareli, whereas Kishori Lal Sharma, a Gandhi family loyalist, will take on BJP’s Smriti Irani from Amethi in the Lok Sabha Elections. There was suspense over Rahul Gandhi contesting election from Uttar Pradesh besides Wayanad where polling was held on April 26 in the second phase of elections.
Rahul Gandhi will run for the MP from Rae Bareli from where his mother was a five-time MP before taking the Rajya Sabha route to the Parliament this year. Sonia won the seat for the first time in 2004 before which she was a one-time MP from Amethi in 1999.
Amethi Lok Sabha seat
Amethi has been a stronghold of the Congress party for decades where party stalwarts like Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and top leader Rahul Gandhi contested successfully. The seat is also known as the Gandhi family bastion until being won by Smriti Irani in 2019 against Rahul Gandhi.
The Amethi seat has got a non-Gandhi family candidate for the first time in 25 years in the form of Kishori Lal Sharma. Sonia Gandhi was a candidate on the seat in 1999. After she shifted to Rae Bareli in 2004, Rahul Gandhi contested the polls from Amethi and remained an MP till 2019 until his defeat at the hands of Irani.
Who is KL Sharma?
Kishori Lal Sharma, a close associate and loyalist of the Gandhi family, is originally from Punjab’s Ludhiana. He had been the manager of Sonia Gandhi in her absence on the Rae Bareli seat.
Sharma's ties with the Gandhi family deepened after the passing of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. He has been working for the Congress party for years in Amethi where he first came in 1983 and continued since then. He had played a pivotal role in Sonia Gandhi’s maiden electoral victory in 1999 on the Amethi seat.
However, after Sonia Gandhi vacated her seat for Rahul Gandhi in 2004 and moved to Rae Bareli, Sharma took charge and managed the party’s affairs on both seats – Amethi and Rae Bareli.
What did KL Sharma say on his candidature?
Reacting to his candidature from Amethi, Sharma expressed gratitude to the Congress leadership and said that he will work hard to win the seat.
"I want to thank Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi for giving me the opportunity to contest from their traditional seat. I will work very hard...Rahul Gandhi is not someone who runs away from the ground. No one can predict anything (about votes). I will meet Priyanka Gandhi today," he said.
Both the seats in Uttar Pradesh will go to polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20. The results will be announced on June 4.
ALSO READ | Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Rahul Gandhi to contest from Rae Bareli, Sonia's loyalist KL Sharma from Amethi
