Congress on Friday finally brought an end to the long-standing suspense around its candidates from the Gandhi family's traditional bastions--Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, on the last day of filing the nominations for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The grand old party announced Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi as it candidate from Rae Bareli and Congress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi.
Up until 2019, Amethi had been the Gandhi family's stronghold, when BJP's Smriti Irani wrested the seat from Congress stalwart Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi, represented Amethi in the Lower House of Parliament between 2004 and 2019, but will now be filing his nomination from the the other family stronghold, Rae Bareli, which was represented by his mother Sonia Gandhi between 2004-24.
Earlier this year, she moved to the Rajya Sabha after which the specualtion around who the party will field from the seat began. Earlier, it was also speculated that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would contest from the constituency.
Who is Kishori Lal Sharma?
Kishori Lal Sharma, originally from Punjab's Ludhiana, is said to be a close associate of the Gandhi family, who first came to Amethi in 1983 as a Congress worker.
Since then he was closely associated with former prime minister (late) Rajiv Gandhi and continued to remain in Amethi, where he worked for Congress.
After the former PM's assassination in 1991, his ties with the Gandhi family deepened, and he continued his efforts to bolster the Congress in Amethi and would campaign for other Congress candidates as well.
The newly fielded Amethi Candidate is said to have played a key role in Sonia Gandhi's first electoral win in 1999, through which she first entered the Parliament with a victory in Amethi.
After Sonia Gandhi moved to Rae Bareli seat after vacating the Amethi seat, KL Sharma moved to the city with her, becoming her representative in Rae Bareli.
The Gandhi family loyalist will now be contesting against BJP's Smriti Irani, who wrested the Congress stronghold Amethi from Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 general elections.
After Rahul Gandhi was elected to the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in 2004, KL Sharma also started to oversee the party's affairs in both Rae Bareli and Amethi. In the absence of the Gandhis, he was the key person who looked after the two key constituencies in UP.
In addition to the two key UP seats, KL Sharma has also worked for the grand old party in Bihar and Punjab.
As per the Election Commission's schedule, voting in Amethi and Rae Bareli will take place on May 20 in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls.