The process of nomination for Rae Bareli and Amethi Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh has started and the last date for filling the forms is May 3. On behalf of BJP, Smriti Irani has also filed nomination from Amethi seat. The party has not yet been able to decide who will be the face from Congress on both the seats. Amethi and Rae Bareli areas are considered the traditional seats of the Gandhi family, on which there is suspense in the Congress regarding contesting the elections. Meanwhile, the final decision as to which member of the Gandhi family will contest on both the seats has to be taken by Congress Party National President Mallikarjun Kharge.
On the question of contesting elections from Amethi Lok Sabha seat, Rahul Gandhi has told the media several times that whatever order Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge gives, it will be followed. In this way, Rahul Gandhi has put the ball in Kharge’s court. At the same time, Mallikarjun Kharge said in an interview on the ticket for Amethi seat, ‘Whoever will be, will be there.’ Along with this, he also completely rejected his claim of contesting elections from Rae Bareli seat and said that I am not going to contest elections from there.
What is the meaning of this statement of Mallikarjun Kharge, ‘Whatever will happen, will happen.’ Congress is laying a new political chessboard in the Amethi Lok Sabha seat this time, because in the last election, BJP’s Smriti Irani had captured the Amethi Lok Sabha seat by defeating Rahul Gandhi. Irani is again in the electoral fray, from whose hands Congress is trying to snatch the seat. Congress is weaving a political network for this, due to which delay in naming the candidate is also being considered a part of Congress’s strategy. Kharge says that in the present times suspense has to be maintained.
Local leader may get ticket from Amethi seat
Senior journalist Firoz Naqvi, who closely understands the politics of Rae Bareli-Amethi, says that it is clear from the words of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge that this time Congress is entering the elections with a lot of strategy. Apart from the party president and the Gandhi family, no one has any clue as to who will contest the elections from Congress from Amethi and Rae Bareli. That is why there is a lot of speculation about the possible candidates of Congress from Amethi and Rae Bareli parliamentary constituencies, but this time, like BJP, Congress will surprise by announcing the name of its candidate at the last moment.
Firoz Naqvi says that Congress can give ticket to any local leader from Amethi seat, but in Rae Bareli only someone from Gandhi family will contest the election. The reason for this is that the Gandhi family is related to Rae Bareli before Amethi, because the Amethi seat was created in 1977, whereas Indira Gandhi’s husband Firoz Gandhi had contested the Rae Bareli seat in the elections held for the first time after independence. After them Indira Gandhi, Arun Nehru and Sonia Gandhi tried their luck. Sonia Gandhi is a Rajya Sabha MP and Rahul Gandhi has contested from Wayanad, from where he is certain to win. In such a situation, if Rahul Amethi and Priyanka Gandhi contest elections from Rae Bareli, BJP will get a chance to accuse Congress of nepotism. To avoid allegations, Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are withdrawing from contesting elections from Rae Bareli and Amethi.
Rae Bareli seat more important than Amethi?
Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi from the Gandhi family were MPs on Amethi Lok Sabha seat. Congress has been dominant here for a long time. Even now the place is identified with the Gandhi family, but Rae Bareli seat is considered more important for the Gandhi family than Amethi. Congress had lost the Amethi seat in the Modi wave, but the fort of Rae Bareli remained intact. Firoz Naqvi says that this time on Amethi seat, Congress is also trying to give a big blow to a local veteran leader of the other party by entering the Congress at the last moment and getting nomination on the same day in the same political style as BJP.
The way Mallikarjun Kharge has said that he will be the local candidate is being interpreted, due to which speculations are being made that a fight will be fought against some local leader. For this reason, the strategy behind giving the Congress President the right to select the candidate from the Central Election Committee is to maintain secrecy in the name of the Amethi candidate till the last moment. It is believed that Congress will give ticket to a local leader from Amethi seat, but only Gandhi family will be in the fray from Rae Bareli.
Is Priyanka Gandhi forced to fight from Rae Bareli?
The way Rahul Gandhi lost the Amethi Lok Sabha seat last time, it was a similar blow to the Congress when Raj Narayan defeated Indira Gandhi from the Rae Bareli seat in 1977. Indira Gandhi had contested elections from Rae Bareli and Medhak seats in 1980. She had won from both the seats, but had left Rae Bareli seat. After this, Sonia Gandhi from Gandhi family came to contest elections from Rae Bareli seat in 2004. It is believed that like Indira, Rahul Gandhi also does not want to contest elections from Amethi seat now, because he does not want to make Smriti versus Rahul by entering the election field. If Rahul contests from Amethi, it will become a compulsion for Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Rae Bareli seat again.
Firoz Naqvi says that looking at the strategy of Congress, it seems that the party is planning to make Rahul Gandhi contest elections from Rae Bareli seat instead of Amethi seat so that he cannot be accused of fleeing the state. Priyanka Gandhi should also be available for campaigning in other areas. In the absence of Priyanka Gandhi as a candidate, it will be difficult to level the allegations of nepotism on Congress. There is also a solution in this strategy that in case of Rahul’s victory, Priyanka Gandhi will be available as an alternative candidate after resigning from one seat and Congress will also be able to counter BJP’s current strategy.
