‘Amethi sits amanat of Gandhi family…’: Kishori Lal Sharma, says ‘my victory will be their victory’

Congress candidate from Amethi seat Kishori Lal Sharma said the BJP’s claim that Congress is accepting defeat in this constituency by not fielding anyone from the Gandhi family shows “arrogance”.

Rahul Gandhi is contesting the Lok Sabha election from the Rae Bareli seat, while Kishori Lal Sharma, a close associate of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat. Sharma had been MP for Rae Bareli and Amethi and looked after the two bastions of the Gandhi family.

The Congress leader said he has been looking after Rae Bareli and Amethi constituencies for over 41 years and the Gandhi family is in the minds of everyone.

“It is true that it is their constituency. Even in the past, Captain Satish Sharma used to fight from here, but when Sonia ji had to fight, he handed over the seat to Sonia ji. If such a situation arises in the future, I will do the same,” he said.

Sharma said the Gandhi family’s imprint will always remain in the constituency and he will ensure that it is preserved.

“If elected, I will work as an MP and keep the ‘amanat’ of the Gandhi family safe,” Sharma said.

Asked about the BJP’s criticism that the Congress had accepted the defeat in Amethi by fielding him in place of a Gandhi family member, Sharma said: “The answer to this will be given by the people on May 20 and the result will be will be announced on June 4. ”

On the BJP’s jokes that Rahul Gandhi ‘ran away’ because he was afraid of losing to Amethi, Sharma said those born after Independence do not know the history of the Gandhi family.

“Neither the Gandhis (the Nehru-Gandhi family) have run away from the British during the time, nor have they run away now, nor will they run away in the future. We will make others run away. Rahul Gandhi is touring the entire country and making the BJP run away,” he told PTI.

The Congress candidate also disagreed with Rahul Gandhi being defeated from the seat in 2019. He alleged that power and governance were misused and there were also some shortcomings on the part of the management of the Congress, which he lost by around 55,000 votes.

“People have not defeated Rahul Gandhi. If they had defeated him by three lakh votes, I would have thought they would have voted to defeat him. But he got more than 4 lakh votes and lost by more than 55,000 votes. I never blame the people of Amethi for the loss,” the Congress leader said.

Sharma refused to make any prediction about the seat and asserted that it is for the people to decide.

Asked if his victory from here would be the victory of the Gandhi family, Sharma said, “It will be their victory.”

Talking about the jokes of BJP’s Rae Bareli candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, who called the Sharma Gandhi family ‘peon’ and ‘Priyanka Gandhi’s clerk’, Sharma said that whatever values ​​the BJP leaders might have got from their family, come with them is.

This is the first time in 25 years that a member of the Gandhi family will not contest the election from the seat. The Congress bastion was breached in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when Smriti Irani of the BJP defeated Rahul Gandhi by over 55,000 votes.

According to the announcement by the Election Commission of India, the voting date for the 2024 Amethi Lok Sabha constituency election has been set for May 20, which falls under phase 5 of the election process.

(With inputs from PTI)