Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
The pain of defeat was deep. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra gave both family and party a chance to laugh. The message of Rahul Gandhi’s defeat in Amethi in 2019 was profound. The implications of Priyanka’s settlement of accounts in 2024 are also profound. Kishori Lal Sharma was in the field. A formal certificate of victory also had to be made by him. But the focus of the entire election atmosphere was on Priyanka. If Kishori had lost, Priyanka would have been blamed. Priyanka also gets credit if you win.
On the other hand, Priyanka also played a big role in Rahul Gandhi’s massive victory in Rae Bareli. By returning to Amethi and restoring the family’s old aura in Rae Bareli, Priyanka has breathed life into the party cadre.
Do not remember the humility of the winner
Smriti Irani first entered Amethi in 2014. She then lost the contest to Rahul. However, he got a place in the Modi cabinet. The party kept him there. Rahul was indifferent to the area. Smriti’s next five years of hard work scripted her victory in 2019. Even Priyanka could not prevent brother Rahul’s defeat in that election. After this, Rahul almost forgot the way to Amethi.
But Smriti continued to challenge the Gandhi family. For every small work or lack of work in the area, she sought an account of her forty years of association with the Gandhi family, from the house to the streets. Humility is expected from the winner. She missed out on this front. Smriti did a lot of damage to her image by constantly attacking the Gandhi family.
Congress benefits from candidate strategy
However, Amethi was no longer easy for the Gandhi family. After the 2019 defeat, it was not easy to get a response among voters due to the family’s distance from there. Direct combat in Amethi had its own dangers. Leaving him was not easy either. Here the strategy of the Gandhi family worked till the end whether Smriti or BJP or media. Everyone kept speculating about the candidature there. Will Rahul or Priyanka fight from there? Sonia leaving Rae Bareli added fuel to these speculations. In an emotional letter to the people of Rae Bareli, Sonia also said that she would hand over a family member to them.
Safe Game by Kishori Sharma
The Gandhi family has played a safe game regarding the candidature of Amethi. The relatively strong Rae Bareli seat was chosen for Rahul on the last day of nominations. In Amethi, she fielded her representative Kishori Lal Sharma and then Priyanka shouldered the responsibility of winning her over. If Rahul had fought, the rival camp would have raised a voice saying where were the five years. Questions could have been asked to Priyanka too. But in contrast to the aggressive commemoration campaign that has been going on for five years, an atmosphere of sympathy has been created for the Gandhi family.
In fact, it was now Smriti’s turn not to ask the question but to give the answer. She could count her deeds. Rather than what he himself had done, his emphasis was more on what the Gandhi family had failed to do in Amethi in forty years. This negative campaign hurt him.
Priyanka’s face among voters
Priyanka is the most successful campaigner of her family and party. She does not speak impulsively like her brother Rahul. Without naming the opponent, he responds politely and even delivers restrained attacks. Once again he repeated it in Amethi, Rae Bareli. His candidacy was low profile compared to Smriti. But Priyanka’s face and her words were among the voters. She was gathering votes for Kishori Lal Sharma but was reminding her of her family’s ties to Amethi.
The area has long been a fascination for its association with and identification with the Gandhi family. Bonds loosened in 2019. The tide of emotions was ebbing. In 2024, Priyanka once again gave it a new momentum. His superior communication style and ability to engage people have sidelined questions like why Kishori and why not Rahul or himself.
Many reasons for success
Here is a list of reasons why Amethi chose Kishori Lal Sharma by a bigger margin than Smriti. Even before this, SP has left Amethi and Rae Bareli for the Gandhi family. This time it was in alliance with the Congress and its workers worked hard for an ally candidate. Why ? The major reason for this was that the BJP inducted SP MLA Manoj Pandey from Unchahar (Rae Bareli), Rakesh Pratap Singh from Gauriganj and Maharaj Prajapati from Amethi. This angered loyal SP cadres.
Akhilesh Yadav held joint meetings with Rahul Gandhi in Amethi and Rae Bareli to inform the rebel MLAs about their position, motivating his workers to do so. In this campaign there were many issues like saving the constitution, threat of reservation, unemployment and inflation. Priyanka cherished all these and swayed voters towards her candidates.
Angry BJP people; A boon for the opposition
Smriti has been active in Amethi for the past 10 years. Five years of losing and then five years of winning. He did a lot of work there. Reached every village. Also built my own house. But in the meantime, he has annoyed many party leaders at the local level. It was not easy for activists and common people to meet him. Union workers became indifferent towards him. The work that was supposed to be done by the opposition was done by the people of his party. His glory was discussed everywhere.
Priyanka did not take Smriti’s name. No personal attacks on him. Disgruntled BJP workers were doing this work. Such discussions need no wings. Increased memory loss. The road became easy for Priyanka.
The identity of the Gandhi family dominates Rae Bareli-Amethi
The 2019 debacle in Amethi was a message that big names alone are not enough. After Sonia’s long absence from Rae Bareli, discussions started that Rae Bareli may go via Amethi. But by 2024, Amethi again started remembering its identity because of the Gandhi family. As soon as the news of Sonia’s retirement from electoral politics came, Rae Bareli became alert. Priyanka once again touched the sentiments of the people of Amethi-Rae Bareli. His work in Rae Bareli was easy. Rahul was in the field. Sonia reached there and reminded the family of their century-old relationship.
A wave of emotions arose. Strong support from SP. The government’s failures showed its impact. Rahul strengthened the family’s old stronghold by winning by a huge margin of nearly four lakhs. Priyanka had to smooth the score of brother Rahul’s earlier defeat in Amethi. For this he did not find it necessary to bring Rahul back into the field. Accomplishing this through a family confidant, he made his opponent aware of his limitations.
