With Sonia Gandhi poised to enter the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, Rae Bareli, her Lok Sabha seat, has fallen vacant, and it is evident that the Congress would be fielding someone new from there. Rae Bareli has a long history of its association with the Nehru-Gandhi family; both Feroze Gandhi and Indira Gandhi represented the seat, as did Sonia Gandhi later and before her Arun Nehru and Satish Sharma amongst others.
Therefore, there is intense speculation that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is tipped to make her electoral debut this time, would be contesting from the constituency, which was served by her grandparents and mother. However, within the Congress, there are multiple voices which would want Priyanka to go down South and file her papers from either Medak or Chikmagalur. Indira Gandhi had after 1977, contested and won from both these seats while also winning back Rae Bareli in 1980.
Significantly, Rae Bareli has its own symbolic value and in 2019 when the Congress lost everywhere in Uttar Pradesh, this was the lone seat which stood by the party and Sonia Gandhi. The Congress support base in the largest state of the country has shrunk, and after Rahul Gandhi lost from Amethi last time, there is very little hope left for the party to make its presence felt anywhere. Within the Congress, there are many who feel that instead of Priyanka, it would make a lot of sense to field party chief Mallikarjun Kharge from there.
Kharge is a seasoned politician and his candidacy as the possible Prime Ministerial face of the I.N.D.I.A bloc has already been endorsed by both Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal. It is unlikely that anyone within the alliance would oppose him. Kharge is also a Dalit and if he is chosen by the Gandhis to contest from Rae Bareli, the emanating message would be loud and clear.
There were reports that Mayawati, who is seen as the most visible Dalit face in North India, had reportedly assured her party’s support to Sonia Gandhi, if she would have been the nominee. However, she has been dilly dallying on joining the alliance, and thus the Congress and its partners need to do fresh round of thinking. There are many positives if Kharge is projected as the nominee from Rae Bareli.
Firstly, his wide acceptance amongst I.N.D.I.A bloc allies is extremely significant. Secondly, if he fights from Rae Bareli, the signal which would be sent is that the Gandhis consider him to be a family member and that is why they have chosen him to fight from there. Thirdly, being from Karnataka, Kharge’s candidature would reinforce his party’s belief in treating India as a single entity to end the flawed perception of divisive politics, that is pitting two different regions of the country against each other.
The Congress lacks organizational infrastructure, and one of the reasons why it ends up losing most seats where it is in a direct fight with the BJP, is because it has deviated from its original politics while allowing the saffron brigade to set the narrative. Kharge’s projection would also end speculation about Rahul Gandhi being the first choice of the Congress given that his name would evoke a strong opposition from amongst the allies.
In fact, if Rahul is shown to be out of the race, the BJP would find it difficult to find a target. Rahul’s propping up as a possible Congress nominee has never been done by him or the party in the recent years. It is the BJP which gives him this space since in a Rahul versus Narendra Modi showdown, the Prime Minister emerges as a clear winner.
The Congress is in its present state because it has not been able to fully reclaim its original vote base of Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims. In Karnataka and Telangana, it is clear that the Muslims have started looking once again towards the Congress in this hugely divisive political environment. If Kharge gets national importance by being fielded from Rae Bareli, the Dalits would also have a rethink. The Brahmins are not fully satisfied with the BJP but the Congress has failed to woo them adequately by not giving them enough importance within the organization.
They need a nudge and some clever thinking to gravitate towards the grand old party. They have chosen not to oppose the BJP so far, because of lack of a national alternative, but the Congress has to do something substantial for them to get this feeling of being wanted. Kharge’s candidacy from Rae Bareli will also consolidate the Southern votes in favour of the Congress and the overall outcome could be impacted.
Some of Kharge’s adversaries may dismiss such a suggestion as hare-brained but then new strategies to unsettle the narrative should be attempted. The decision to field Priyanka from Rae Bareli would be on expected lines though it would not make any difference to the politics of the region and nationally. If she insists on fighting from Uttar Pradesh, she can go to Amethi, also an erstwhile family borough.
Amethi has in the past been represented by both Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, besides Rahul and before them by Sanjay Gandhi. The Congress has to better its overall performance if it has to prevent the BJP from coming back with bigger numbers this time. Kharge from Rae Bareli would introduce new and unexpected elements in the electoral arena. Only time would determine if the strategy would pay. Between us.