New Delhi: With Rahul Gandhi choosing Rae Bareli over Amethi this time, it seems that the Gandhis have given up a constituency considered to be their bastion.
Amethi has a history with the Gandhi clan. When Sanjay Gandhi chose Amethi to contest his first election in 1980, the main reason was that the region was steeped in backwardness and he took it up as a challenge to develop the constituency. The same year, Sanjay Gandhi died in an air crash and Rajiv Gandhi decided to take over his brother’s constituency in the subsequent by-election in 1981. For a decade, till Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991, he held Amethi and nurtured it with attention and affection.
After his demise, Capt Satish Sharma — a close family friend — won Amethi in 1991 by-poll and 1996 also. In 1998, BJP’s Dr Sanjay Singh won the seat but when Sonia Gandhi made her debut in politics, she wrested back Amethi in 1999.
In 2004, Sonia Gandhi moved to Rae Bareli and Rahul Gandhi took over Amethi which he won till 2019 when he was defeated by Smriti Irani of BJP.
Trust on Non-Gandhi to regain its Bastion
Congress Party has shown trust in Kishori Lal Sharma, a Non-Gandhi to regain Amethi, once known as Congress’s Bastion. let’s know all about Kishori Lal Sharma and how he is linked with Amethi.
KL Sharma, who belongs from Ludhiana, Punjab has been working with Gandhi Family since 1983. Rajeev Gandhi, former Prime Minister introduced Sharma with Anethi and ever since then he has been working and Campaigning for the party.
After Sonia Gandhi vacated her seat for son Rahul Gandhi in 2004 and moved to Raebareli, Sharma started to manage the party’s affairs in both the constituencies in Uttar Pradesh — Amethi and Rae Bareli.