The Hindu : Rahul to contest from Amethi, Sonia shifts to Rae Bareli

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 22, 2004

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Rahul to contest from Amethi, Sonia shifts to Rae Bareli

By K.V. Prasad

NEW DELHI, MARCH 21. The Congress today announced the formal entry of Rahul Gandhi into electoral politics by declaring his candidature from Amethi, the constituency represented by his mother and Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, in the dissolved Lok Sabha. Ms. Gandhi now shifts to neighbouring Rae Bareli once represented by Indira Gandhi.

The decision to field Rahul Gandhi ended speculation on the political role for the next generation of Nehru-Gandhis. The talk of his taking the electoral plunge began earlier this year after he toured Amethi along with his sister, Priyanka Vadra. While Priyanka Vadra, has been active especially campaigning for her mother and also assisting her with constituency-related work, Rahul Gandhi joined her recently.

Since 1980, Amethi has been represented by the Gandhi family except between 1991 and 1998 when family loyalist Satish Sharma held the seat and between 1998 and 1999 when the seat was lost by the Congress to Sanjay Singh, then contesting on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket. Rajiv Gandhi won the seat on four occasions including 1991 (he was assassinated before the results were out). In 1980, Sanjay Gandhi won the seat and later Rajiv Gandhi won the byelection after his

death. Sonia Gandhi successfully contested the seat for the first time in 1999.

There has been a clamour in the party that both the Gandhi siblings be fielded in the coming general elections and the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee had even passed a resolution to that effect. Today while announcing Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi's candidature with 29 other names, the AICC general secretary, Ambika Soni, said the "programme of Ms. Priyanka Vadra would be made known" in due course.

The Congress decision to field Rahul Gandhi from Amethi was expected to galvanise the party in Uttar Pradesh, especially since it has been left without a major political partner in the State. The Congress hopes for an electoral tie-up with the Bahujan Samaj Party were dashed last week with the latter deciding to go it alone. The Samajwadi Party, whose Government was being supported by the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, had earlier decided to contest 70 of the 80 seats in the State, leaving the rest to its partner, Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Though it seems that the Congress may have no option but to go it alone in Uttar Pradesh, even at this late stage the party was trying to negotiate a deal with the Samajwadi Party, which was confirmed by Ms. Soni today.

Among the other seats declared today include Maharashtra (10), Rajasthan (nine), Kerala (five), Jammu & Kashmir (three) and Chhattisgarh (two) taking the total number of candidates cleared up to 180.

Prominent among those cleared include former Union Minister Balram Jakhar from Churu in Rajasthan, former Jammu and Kashmir State Congress chief Ghulam Rasool Kar from Baramulla, and former Maharashtra Chief Minister A.R. Antulay from Kolaba. The list of candidates from Maharashtra includes Milind Deora, son of former Mumbai Territorial Committee chief Murli Deora, from Mumbai South, the current chief, Gurudas Kamat, from Mumbai North-East, Indian Olympic Association chief Suresh Kalmadi from Pune, former Union Minister Balasahib Vikhe-Patil, who left the Shiv Sena recently, from Kopargaon and AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik from Buldhana. Two Ministers in the J&K Government, Lal Singh (Udhampur) and Madan Lal Sharma (Jammu) are also being fielded.

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