May 03, 2024 01:37 PM IST
Four members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, including Rahul Gandhi’s uncle, Sanjay Gandhi, and father, Rajiv Gandhi, have since 1980 represented the seat
In the third week of February, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed his first public rally in Amethi since his loss of the family pocket borough in 2019 to Union minister Smriti Irani. Gandhi spoke about his family’s relationship with Amethi and called it a bond of love.
Thousands jostled to catch a glimpse of Gandhi in a red open-air jeep, shake hands, and take selfies with him. With flags emblazoned with his name and image in the background, Gandhi waved to the crowd from the jeep.
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Gandhi’s return to the former bastion of his family as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra was seen as his homecoming. It sparked speculation about his renomination from the central Uttar Pradesh seat.
Four members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, including Rahul Gandhi’s uncle, Sanjay Gandhi, and father, Rajiv Gandhi, have since 1980 represented the seat.
Rahul Gandhi won his first election from Amethi in 2004 by about 300,000 votes. He retained the seat in 2009 and 2014 when he defeated Irani by about 100,000 votes. Rahul Gandhi lost to Irani by 55,000 votes in 2019 but managed to win from Wayanad in Kerala. Irani became the first BJP leader to defeat any Gandhi family leader in Amethi since 1999.
In 1998, BJP’s Sanjaya Sinh defeated Congress’s Satish Sharma from Amethi. Sonia Gandhi wrested the seat a year later defeating Sinh.
A section of Congress wanted Rahul Gandhi to contest again from Amethi with Congress state unit chief Ajai Rai maintaining the people of the constituency have the family in their hearts. He said whatever development has happened there, it is because of the family.
On Friday, the Congress ended the suspense over the party’s nominees for Amethi and the other Gandhi family pocket borough of Rae Bareli, which are scheduled to go to the polls in the fifth phase of the ongoing general elections on May 20. Friday is the last day of submitting nomination papers for the two seats.
Rahul Gandhi, who also contested Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad, was named as the candidate from Rae Bareli, which his mother Sonia Gandhi held until she moved to the Rajya Sabha this year, and Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi. His sister Priyanka Gandhi, who was expected to be fielded from one of the two seats, opted out of the contest. Sharma will be the first non-Gandhi Congress candidate from Amethi since 1998.
Both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are believed to have expressed initial reluctance about contesting. In March, the Uttar Pradesh Congress Pradesh Election Committee unanimously adopted a resolution urging Congress leadership to field Gandhi family members from Rae Bareli and Amethi Lok Sabha seats. It recommended the names of Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for the two seats.
