NEW DELHI: Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi
on Friday called
Rae Bareli
the “Karmabhoomi of Gandhi family” as he made an emotional pitch to counter opposition’s charge of dumping
Amethi
for a “safer” Lok Sabha seat. “It is with great confidence that my mother has given me the responsibility to serve the Karmabhoomi of our family,” Rahul said in a tweet hours after he filed his nomination papers from Rae Bareli.
Rahul, who is under opposition fire for changing his seat from Amethi to Rae Bareli, asserted that for him the two seats were not different as people of both the constituencies were his family.
Rae Bareli was the only seat in Uttar Pradesh that the Congress had managed to win in the 2019
Lok Sabha elections
.
Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP leaders have been relentless in their attacks on Rahul after it was announced in the morning that the former Congress chief will be contesting from Rae Bareli and not Amethi, which he represented for three terms till he lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019.
Addressing an election rally,
PM Modi
mocked Rahul Gandhi and said the Congress leader should not be afraid and “keep running away”.
“I had said earlier that the ‘prince’, after the polling in Wayanad, would look for another seat, due to fear of defeat in that constituency. Now, he had to run away from Amethi and choose the Rae Bareli seat. They go around and ask people not to feel afraid. I would tell them the same thing – don’t be afraid and don’t run away,” the Prime Minister said taking a dig at Congress leader’s oft repeated statement “daro mat.”
Rahul also made an emotional appeal to the people of Rae Bareli seeking their support.
“In the ongoing fight for justice against injustice, I seek the love and blessings of my own people. I am confident that all of you will stand with me in this fight to save democracy and Constitution,” Rahul Gandhi said.
The Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat has been held by Rahul’s mother Sonia Gandhi, his grandmother Indira Gandhi and his grandfather Feroze Gandhi in the past. Feroze Gandhi held the seat in the first two elections after Independence. His wife Indira Gandhi won in 1967, 1971 and 1980, followed by friends and family members of the Gandhis. Arun Nehru won the 1980 bypoll and subsequently in 1984. Sheila Kaul, Indira Gandhi’s aunt, represented the seat in 1989 and 1991.
The only time the Congress did not represent Rae Bareli was in the wake of the Emergency in 1977 when Janata Party’s Raj Narain defeated Indira Gandhi, who was then the prime minister. And the BJP’s Ashoke Singh won in 1996 and 1998. Sonia Gandhi won from Rae Bareli four times between 2004 and 2019, although of late, her winning margins have dwindled.
The Congress claimed that it took the decision to field Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli after a lot of deliberation and strategy. The grand old party claimed that the Rae Bareli constituency was not just a legacy but also a responsibility. Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge targeted the Prime Minister and said “the PM himself has run away to Varanasi.”
“Many people have given different opinions on the news of Rahul Gandhi contesting elections from Rae Bareli. But he is a seasoned player of politics and chess. He makes his moves after careful consideration. The party leadership has taken this decision after a lot of deliberation and strategy,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.
Ramesh claimed the decision to field Rahul has devastated the BJP, its supporters and sycophants.
“The poor self-proclaimed Chanakya who used to talk about ‘traditional seats’ is not able to understand what to do now,” he said.
Both Amethi and Rae Bareli will vote on May 20. The Congress is contesting on 17 seats in Uttar Pradesh in alliance with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
