Congress party feels that if Rahul again contests from Amethi and Priyanka chooses Varanasi for her first election, then it can get a new life in the state. Will Rahul muster the courage to return to Amethi after his 2019 defeat and will Priyanka Gandhi Vadra take the risk of contesting from the tough Varanasi seat?
Amidst growing clamor for the 2024 elections, the party's battered condition in Uttar Pradesh, the state with the maximum number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, is making Congress leaders restless. The words of the leaders of the parties having influence in Uttar Pradesh, who stand with the Congress in the mobilization of anti-BJP parties outside Uttar Pradesh in Patna and Bengaluru, start being heard as soon as they return to the state. At present, no big or small anti-BJP party seems excited about the alliance with the Congress in the state. So what are his options? By giving him the support of Rahul-Priyanka's leadership.
However, till now he has not been able to show any charisma in Uttar Pradesh. But his hold on the party is intact and its leaders and workers have not lost hope of him. The party feels that if Rahul again contests from Amethi and Priyanka chooses Varanasi for her first election, then it can get a new life in the state. Will Rahul be able to muster up the courage to return to Amethi after the 2019 defeat and will Priyanka Gandhi Vadra take the risk of contesting from the tough Varanasi seat? No one else but Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai has given an opportunity to target the opponents of Rahul-Priyanka and especially the BJP leaders by speaking on these issues on the question of journalists.
2019 defeat made Amethi indifferent
From the electoral point of view, the ground situation of Amethi and Rae Bareli is not encouraging for the Congress. In 2019, Rahul Gandhi had given the message of an alternative to the voters of Amethi by filing papers from Wayanad along with Amethi. Then Amethi won Smriti and gave her answer that she did not have the same attachment with the Gandhi family as before. After this defeat, Rahul came to this area considered family only on two occasions. For the first time a few months after the defeat, when he told the local workers who were getting emotional that they have to understand that now my first responsibility is towards Wayanad. He came to Amethi for the second time on the occasion of 2022 assembly elections. Did a padayatra for the party candidates. Priyanka also campaigned in the area. The results were disappointing for the party. Three of the five seats in the parliamentary constituency were won by the BJP and two by the SP.
Sonia's inaction in Rae Bareli is heavy for the party
On the other hand, Rae Bareli, the only seat won by the Congress in 2019, is also not encouraging for the party. Ill health has made Sonia Gandhi's presence negligible in her constituency. His victory margin in 2014 was 3,52,713, while in 2019 it has come down to 1,67,718. On the lines of Amethi, in Rae Bareli also, the Congress's account was not opened in the 2022 assembly elections. The SP holds four out of five seats in the parliamentary constituency and the BJP one. At present, the presence of Congress in the Lok Sabha is registered through Rae Bareli. BJP is keeping an eye on this. He tried hard in 2019 as well. But then its success was limited to reducing Sonia's victory margin. Even after the defeat, BJP is serious about Rae Bareli. The party has given place to its candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, who was defeated by Sonia, in the Yogi cabinet. Apart from this, the ministers of the center and the state are constantly active in Rae Bareli.
Will SP contest from Amethi, Rae Bareli?
Not only BJP but SP can also present challenge to Gandhi family in Amethi and Rae Bareli in 2024 Loksabha elections in case of failure of alliance. Till 2019, SP has not fielded candidates in Amethi, Rae Bareli in the election contests of Rahul and Sonia. But a few months back, during a visit to Amethi in the early week of March, Akhilesh Yadav continuously used V.I.P. Taking a jibe at the plight of Amethi even after being elected as MP, he had said that "no longer big people but big hearted people will be elected from there". SP will contest on all 80 seats in the state. Although the All India Alliance of non-BJP parties had not taken shape till the time of Akhilesh's statement, but even if the SP does not field its candidate, will it be easier for Rahul in Amethi?
Rahul shied away from the question of Amethi during the padyatra
Congress worker and party's state president Ajay Rai may want Rahul Gandhi to contest the election again in 2024, but it is important that what Rahul himself wants? During Rahul's march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir passing through Madhya Pradesh, he was questioned by journalists about contesting the next election from Amethi. Rahul termed this question as deviating from the objectives of the yatra. Then it was added that there is a year and a half in the elections. What is the meaning of this question now? Interestingly, it was during this visit that Brijlal Khabri, who had to go through the experiences he had to go through when he arrived in Amethi to measure its impact, made him extremely disappointed due to Rahul's indifference towards Amethi and the frustration of the local workers after the 2019 defeat. Had done it.
Khabri had asked in Amethi, how much more will Congress be drowned?
Amethi District Congress Committee President Pradeep Singhal had handed over his resignation to Hatprabh Khabri on the stage itself, which he had already prepared and brought along. Singhal's complaint was that for the last three years, Delhi did not take any care of Amethi's organization. Not a single penny was given. He continued to organize party programs from his own sources. Even in the era of Corona, he made arrangements for help in the name of the party. Khabri had said from the stage itself, “I had come thinking to tell a lot, but now I have no words. There were eight days in Amethi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Visited 40 villages. There was no name leva either. It was only then that we knew that we were losing the election. Then thought that Rahulji took the right decision to fight Wayanad along with Amethi. Congress is drowned. How much more will you drown him? So have there been some such changes in Amethi in the last few months, Due to which the election atmosphere favorable to Rahul Gandhi is visible there? At present, no such effort or activism is visible from the level of the party or Rahul himself.
Smriti leaves no chance to attack Rahul
Amethi's sitting MP and Union minister Smriti Irani had lost to Rahul in 2014. Even after the defeat, the party had made him a minister and then through tremendous activism in Amethi for the next five years, Smriti ensured the victory of 2019. His activism is relentless. There is continuity in her visits to Amethi and she lobbies fiercely between the governments of Lucknow and Delhi for the needs there. It is not that everyone is satisfied with their efforts and they have been able to fulfill all the expectations. There are also voices of protest against them. But the opponent will find it difficult to question his efforts and activism as a parliamentarian. Even after registering a victory over Rahul, Smriti has continuously attacked Amethi's backwardness on the development front under the patronage of the Gandhi family. She does not leave any chance to surround Rahul from Amethi to the house and sarcasm on him.
Priyanka can also contest from Amethi!
Rahul Gandhi has been apathetic about Amethi since the 2019 defeat. But can Priyanka choose Amethi's Rann for her first election? The discussion of this possibility is not without reason. All the members of the family generation after Indira Gandhi started their Lok Sabha elections from Amethi. This process started in 1977 with Sanjay Gandhi. Then Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi fought from Amethi and won. Interestingly, Priyanka traveled a lot in Amethi with her father Rajiv Gandhi in her childhood. Then in 1999, he took command of his mother Sonia Gandhi's election campaign. From 2004, she was active in the election campaign of brother Rahul Gandhi. Once upon a time, people used to throng both sides of the way she used to pass in Amethi. His aarti would be performed. The slogan would be, "Amethi ka danka-beti Priyanka." But people were disappointed by his activism only on the occasion of elections and with time his magic got lost. But still Amethi and its people are familiar to him. In that situation, when Sonia once again contests from Rae Bareli, then which seat would Congress want to choose for Priyanka? It might as well be Amethi, once a family bastion, than the more difficult seat of Varanasi!
No comments:
Post a Comment