In Amethi, Congress workers express frustration over lack of access to Rahul Gandhi, highlighting a shift in the practice after 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
New Delhi: The workers of the Congress party, in the Lok Sabha constituency Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, have been unable to meet Rahul Gandhi in Delhi since the last five years, which has given rise to resentment among a section of workers in the constituency. The core concern among the workers, according to three senior leaders in the constituency, is that the workers have been unable to meet Rahul Gandhi in Delhi like they used to before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In addition to that, a senior worker whom Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi know by name, said, “We used to meet in groups in Delhi with the Gandhi siblings so that we can update them about the local politics of the two important seats of Rae Bareli and Amethi. Now, we aren’t able to meet them. The workers of these constituencies have the habit of meeting Gandhis since 1980’s and this is a very important issue for us.”
A person privy to the developments said, “If a union minister calls these workers from these two seats, they will not go there. They are very emotional about the Gandhis. They don’t think anyone is worth meeting and therefore, they think no middleman should come in between.”
A senior journalist covering the workings of the Congress party for two decades said, “When Capt. Satish Sharma (who had contested and won from both the seats) was alive, Sonia Gandhi’s parliamentary office was at the backway of Satish Sharma’s residence at Gurdwara Pratabganj road where K.L. Sharma would sit. K.L. Sharma would then fulfil all the requirements of these workers after getting nod from Gandhis.”
The political ritual, he added, continued even after K.L. Sharma took the full responsibility of overseeing the constituencies.
“Now the workers only meet Sharma and go back. The system of meeting the Gandhis has eroded. And such an erosion started off from the defeat of Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.”
However, a leader close to K.L. Sharma said, “Rahul Gandhi is the MP from Rae Bareli and he has already been to Rae Bareli a month back, and he has met all those who wanted to meet him. Plus K.L. Sharma still facilitates the process of meeting Gandhis and there is no such thing like not meeting the workers. That is happening even now. Moreover, Sharma has been there in his constituency for around two months after he won the elections. There are more than 18 lakh voters in the Amethi constituency alone, so there will always be a few people who will be dissatisfied. Statistically, it is impossible to meet all the workers.”
Moreover, according to sources, a leader close to Priyanka has been wanting to get the parliamentary representative K.L. Sharma from the Rai Bareli (K.L. Sharma is the parliamentary representative of Amethi and Rae Bareli) Lok Sabha constituency replaced, however, has failed to do so as Sharma is working at the behest of Rahul Gandhi.
A leader said, “Nobody can change anything on the Rae Bareli seat unless Rahul Gandhi wants it, and Sharma is considered as a family member so he will always have that important stature in the party as well.”