Rahul Gandhi with his mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
The Congress has wrested the Amethi seat from the BJP while maintaining its hold in Rae Bareli, considered the stronghold of the Gandhi family in Uttar Pradesh. Kishori Lal Sharma, close to the Gandhi family, has won from Amethi, while Rahul Gandhi has been elected from the Rae Bareli seat along with Kerala’s Wayanad. Rahul Gandhi got a big win from Rae Bareli’s Wayanad. Rahul Gandhi is reaching Rae Bareli with mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday, where he will thank voters and activists. In such a situation, can Rahul Gandhi give any big political signal regarding the Rae Bareli meeting in the presence of the Gandhi family?
After 15 years, Congress has got a big victory in Uttar Pradesh. Congress, which ended up with two seats in 2014 and one seat in 2019, has managed to win six Lok Sabha seats this time. Congress has settled the score by defeating BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi seat. In such a situation, the Congress and the Gandhi family are for the first time doing a political experiment of expressing gratitude to the voters and workers of the area. The Gandhi family has been associated with the Amethi and Rae Bareli seats for decades, but this is the first time the gratitude program is being organized a week after the election results were announced. This is also being seen as a sign of Rahul Gandhi continuing as MP from Rae Bareli.
Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, Amethi MP KL Sharma, Uttar Pradesh President Ajay Rai and other senior leaders will also be present in the gratitude function organized at Bhumau Guest House in Rae Bareli. . Earlier, MP-turned-MP Kishori Lal Sharma thanked the party leaders at a function organized at the party office in Amethi. He praised his relationship with the people of Amethi and Rae Bareli and thanked him for winning the elections. Now Rahul Gandhi is reaching Rae Bareli with his mother and sister, where the party will convey a message of unity along with expressing gratitude.
Will Rahul leave Wayanad seat?
Rahul Gandhi has won from Kerala’s Wayanad and UP’s Rae Bareli seat, but it is not clear which seat he will vacate. In 2019, Rahul contested from Amethi and Wayanad, but lost from Amethi. This time he contested from Wayanad and Rae Bareli seats and Rahul Gandhi managed to win both the seats. Rahul may hint at keeping the Rae Bareli seat by his visit, as Rahul Gandhi won the Rae Bareli seat with more votes than Wayanad. This is also being said because in 1999, Sonia Gandhi contested from both Amethi and Bellary seats in Kerala. Sonia won Amethi by more votes than Bellary, after which she kept the Amethi seat for herself. It is believed that Rahul Gandhi can retain the Rae Bareli seat on this formula, for which he can signal in Rae Bareli.
This time in Uttar Pradesh, Congress entered the polls in alliance with SP and contested on 17 seats, out of which six MPs have won. Congress vote share has also increased from 6.36 percent to 9.46 percent. Congress has won Prayagraj, Saharanpur and Sitapur Lok Sabha seats after almost four decades. He has made a comeback in Barabanki since 2009 and made up for his defeat in Amethi five years ago. Rahul got 66.17 percent votes from Rae Bareli, while Sonia Gandhi got 55.80 percent votes in 2019. Not only that, Rahul has won by almost four lakh votes.
Even in the 11 seats in the state where the Congress has been defeated, its performance has been very good. The Congress lost seats like Bansgaon, Deoria, Amroha, Maharajganj and Fatehpur Sikri by narrow margins. The way Congress candidate Ajay Rai has challenged PM Modi in Varanasi seat and BJP’s margin of victory has been very small, the challenges for Congress have increased in the state. Now Congress wants to maintain the activism of workers in Uttar Pradesh in this way. This gratitude program is also a part of this strategy.
Congress has started preparations for the future in the state
It is believed that Rahul Gandhi will convey the message of continuing as MP from Rae Bareli through the gratitude program at Bhumau Guest House. It will also motivate the workers. It will give them a booster dose for future political preparation. Apart from this, the presence of Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi will tell a lot. Party’s state organization minister Anil Yadav is also giving similar signals. He says that the party leaders will not sit even for a day after the Lok Sabha elections. Congress has started preparations for the future in the state. The strategy is to continue with the same agenda through which Rahul Gandhi has used a political experiment to give political life to the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. Congress will run on the issues of caste enumeration, Agniveer abolition and social justice in UP.
Big wins by Kishori Lal Sharma in Amethi and Rae Bareli have increased the challenges for Rahul Gandhi. After winning in 2019, Sonia Gandhi kept a distance from Rae Bareli for five years due to health reasons, but now Rahul Gandhi will have to maintain ties with Rae Bareli. The people of the district have stood with the Gandhi family every time in the Lok Sabha elections, but the Congress has been consistently losing in the assembly elections. In Rae Bareli, due to weak organization from the district to the village level, Congress was not only wiped out from all assembly seats in the 2022 elections, but the candidates’ deposits were also forfeited.
A challenge for Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi will have to work hard for the assembly elections to be held in 2027. In such a situation, it is a big challenge for Rahul to hoist the flag in all assembly seats of Rae Bareli as before. This is because the Congress was organizationally weak in Rae Bareli. This was the reason why the Congress candidates faced a crushing defeat in the 2022 assembly elections. In such a situation Rahul Gandhi has a tough challenge to keep the promises made to the people apart from strengthening the organization. Apart from this, Rahul Gandhi will also have to fulfill the hope of direct contact with the people of the district.
