Lok Sabha elections 2024: Congress candidate from Amethi Lok Sabha constituency Kishori Lal Sharma said he will defeat Smriti Irani in the upcoming general elections.
Speaking to ANI, Sharma said that he is a veteran politician of the Congress Party and is not on the payroll of the Gandhi family.
“It was the decision of the party leadership as earlier it was not finalized as to who will contest from here… The point is that now I will defeat Smriti Irani. This is a big statement I am making today… 'Mai koi Naukri nahi kar raha Gandhi Parivar ki'. I am a politician. I came here in 1983 through the Youth Congress. I don't take a salary from Congress. I am a pure politician…” declared Sharma.
Who is Congress's Amethi choice KL Sharma?
Sharma is from Ludhiana, Punjab. His association with the Congress dates back to 1983, when he started working with Rajiv Gandhi. After Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, he worked with Captain Satish Sharma in Amethi and was associated with Sonia Gandhi as constituency in-charge when she first contested the Amethi elections in 1999.
He later worked for a time in charge of both the Raebareli and Amethi chairs. After Sonia Gandhi left the seat of Amethi and moved to Raebareli, KL Sharma moved to the city with her. Sharma has also worked for the Congress party in Bihar and Punjab.
Sharma 3rd non-Gandhi match from Amethi in 57 years
This is only the third time that a non-family member of Congress has contested from the Amethi seat. In fact, this is the first time in a quarter of a century that a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family is not part of Amethi's electoral race.
The last time a non-Gandhi family member was fielded from Amethi was in 1998 when the Congress elected veteran leader Captain Satish Sharma to the seat. However, Sharma lost to BJP's Sanjaya Sinh. Before this, Captain Sharma had emerged victorious against Raja Mohan Singh of the BJP in the 1996 general elections.
Amethi has been a stronghold of the Congress Party since its inception in 1967, except for a few years in the 1970s and 1990s, and more recently in 2019 when BJP leader Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress Party announced the names of the candidates on May 3, the last date for filing nominations for the two seats, ending weeks of speculation about party candidates for the two seats. Earlier, it was speculated that Priyanka Gandhi would contest against Rebareli and Rahul against Amethi.
Raebareli and Amethi will go to the polls on May 20 in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli seat in Uttar Pradesh – the Nehru-Gandhi family stronghold abandoned by his mother, Sonia Gandhi.
Rahul has already contested the Lok Sabha elections from Wayanad seat in Kerala, which he won in 2019. Wayanad went to the polls in the second phase on April 26.
The Congress is contesting 17 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. In the remaining 63 seats, the INDIA bloc will have nominees from the Samajwadi Party and other smaller allies.
(With inputs from ANI)
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Published: May 5, 2024 12:14 PM IST