NEW DELHI: After much suspense over the candidates from the Congress bastions, Amethi and Rae Bareli, the grand old party has fielded KL Sharma and Rahul Gandhi respectively.
However, what has caught eye balls is Rahul’s escape from Amethi, which he had lost in 2019 against BJP’s Smriti Irani.
The party had kept much suspense over its two important seats of Uttar Pradesh and moreover varying information regarding the candidates was spread in the media. However, during a recent conversation, according to sources, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had advised the Gandhi family to contest from Amethi and Rae Bareli seats. Kharge’s contention was that if they do not contest the elections, Congress could suffer losses in North India.
A political observer said, “The only vibrant cadre for Congress in Uttar Pradesh is in Rae Bareli followed by Amethi. If none of the family members would have contested from UP. It could have led to the death of Congress’ existence in the state. So keeping that in view and also the historical importance of the seat Rahul Gandhi could have been forced to contest the elections.”
Rahul Gandhi was said to be of belief that he cannot contest a seat (Amethi or Rae Bareli) in Uttar Pradesh which he is not willing to keep. For if he wins both the seats (one in UP and Wayanad in Kerala) he will have to give up the Congress bastion in UP (Amethi or Rae Bareli) and continue in Wayanad. According to sources, “Rahul Gandhi was already ready to contest but his condition was that he will not leave Wayanad in case he wins both the seats.”
Even now, the important question for the team Rahul Gandhi seems which seat the Gandhi scion should carry on with if he wins both the seats. A political analyst said, “When you win a constituency and leave it for another seat, people of that constituency feel betrayed. They feel that they helped the person win the election but he chose to flee from the constituency. It has a politically toxic impact on electorate in a way that there is a feeling that they would not want to vote the same person next time. Since Rae Bareli is a Congress bastion, Rahul Gandhi leaving the constituency may put the constituency at stake for the next time.”
Regarding the political affairs of Priyanka Gandhi, there is an understanding that Priyanka was advised against contesting the elections because the party did not want to give the BJP a line of attack based on dynastic politics. Therefore one Gandhi was left out of Lok Sabha race. A political analyst said, “BJP still has it in their artillery to call Congress a dynastic party. The mother and son duo are contesting elections, one based on political lineage and the other because her husband was the party patron, not that they have come up by struggling through political hierarchy. However, now Congress will have a counter narrative in case BJP speaks about dynastic politics.”
Moreover, the talk among the senior leaders close to Gandhis is that Priyanka has accepted her role of a crisis manager within the party. Not only does she assert herself where Rahul Gandhi needs more family power in the Congress, but she also addresses the issues on the narrative front. She is moreover seen as someone who could liaison well on behalf of the party leadership (rather Rahul Gandhi) with the warring leaders and also mellow down conflict where the feuds intensify. A senior Congress leader mentioned Priyanka as “a sister in need”.