(L-R) Kishori Lal Sharma, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi
Credit: X/@RavinderKapur2 and PTI Photos
New Delhi: Taking forward Sonia Gandhi’s legacy and avoiding a daily slanging match with Smriti Irani, that could derail the Lok Sabha campaign plan, appears to have prompted Congress to field its top gun Rahul Gandhi from Raebareli instead of Amethi.
The decision of his sister and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi to not enter the electoral fray neither in Raebareli nor in Amethi, despite immense pressure from within the ranks and files, also necessitated Rahul’s shift to the seat his mother chose not to fight this time.
The Gandhis and the party are well aware that this shift will bring more attacks on them, especially Rahul, with charges of running away from Amethi fearing defeat once again. But sources said the party is willing to take this one risk and are confident that it will not stick.
On the ground, Congress workers believed that Rahul had a good chance to reverse his defeat in Amethi this time and the party has squandered the opportunity. Some are caustically remarking whether the Gandhi scion's ‘daro mat’ (don’t be scared) slogan was only meant for others like KL Sharma, who has now been tasked to fight Amethi.
While Priyanka insists that her role as a campaigner is important in the event of Rahul contesting from the family bastion, the Congress also chose not to bring unnecessary attention to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s criticism of dynastic politics by fielding both the Gandhi siblings.
She had told top leadership, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, at least two months ago that she would not be contesting the elections this time and would want to concentrate on campaigning.
It was also left to them to choose the candidate if the sister-brother duo decided not to fight from either of the seats. The family chose to reward Kishori Lal Sharma, their pointsman in the family bastions for decades, with a nomination from Amethi.
A close aide of the Gandhis said that with only one of the Gandhis left in the fray, the obvious choice was Raebareli as it was a sitting seat and abandoning it would not have worked for the Congress. Also, Raebareli was represented by Feroz Gandhi and Indira Gandhi besides Sonia.
Except for a gap of 12 years since 1952, the Raebareli seat was represented either by a Gandhi family member or their relative or close confidante. Sonia has been winning from Raebareli since 2004 and even managed to retain her seat in 2019 amidst a Modi wave with it being the lone one the Congress won from Uttar Pradesh last time.
Also by bringing in Sharma, who knows Amethi very well, they believe the party has brought in a strong contender against Smriti who had inflicted a shock defeat on Rahul in 2019.
A senior leader said Rahul fighting from Amethi would have meant being dragged into a daily war of words with Smriti derailing the narrative the party set so far.
“Then it will become a Rahul versus Smriti fight. You know electronic media. We don’t want to make it a personality war. It is a war of ideas. We have set an agenda and it will go for a toss if Rahul fights from Amethi,” the leader said.
Congress leaders said they are well prepared to counter the BJP campaign charging Rahul with deserting Amethi fearing a loss. The BJP’s line of attack is likely to target Rahul on choosing Raebareli and that he would abandon it for Wayanad.
Despite Rahul contesting from Wayanad, the leadership was of the view that the Gandhis not fighting from north India would have been detrimental to the party’s interest in this region. It would also have demoralised the cadre in Uttar Pradesh, sources said.