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Sonia to contest Amethi, perhaps Bellary too

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The central election committee of the Congress has cleared Sonia Gandhi's name for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh even as the party's bright prospects in Karnataka have spurred Congressmen from the southern state to clamour for her candidature from Bellary too.

Top Congress sources told rediff.com that the CEC had deliberately delayed the announcement of the party president's candidature because it wanted to see who the BJP would field against her.

The sources said she had bowed to the wishes of the voters of Amethi, who have been streaming in to 10 Janpath, pleading with her to contest the seat and promising to ensure her victory by a huge margin.

The BJP's candidate in 1998 was Dr Sanjay Singh, scion of the district's erstwhile ruling family. Singh had defeated former Union petroleum minister Satish Sharma, a family friend of the Gandhis.

In her meeting with party colleagues last night, Gandhi did not indicate whether she was also willing to contest Bellary. But the sources said it is a possibility.

Bellary is a safe seat because it has mostly returned Congress candidates. Last year, K C Kondaiah of the party got 284,909 votes, against 63,738 for the Lok Shakti candidate. Even the opposition considers Bellary a Congress stronghold.

The sources said neither Rahul Gandhi nor Priyanka Vadra would be entering the electoral fray this time, though the majority of Congressmen from Uttar Pradesh wanted one of them to contest the Rae Bareli seat against kinsman Arun Nehru, now with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Sonia Gandhi, however, rejected the proposal, saying both have plenty of time to step into the political arena.

But the sources said Gandhi refrained from fielding anyone from the family in Rae Bareli because the BJP has pulled out all stops to ensure Arun Nehru's victory.

According to them, Nehru, cousin and one-time aide of the late Rajiv Gandhi, had told the BJP leadership that he would contest Rae Bareli only if the party backs him to the hilt without a thought to the cost. As a result, he has not only gained access to the central government's resources but has reportedly been given "unlimited cash" to woo the electorate.

Another consideration for not fielding her son or daughter was security. Though all members of the family have been provided tight security, the Congress leadership felt their movements during the campaign would cause "additional problems".

The party's optimism regarding Sonia Gandhi's candidature from Amethi is not only based on voter support but also on the constituency's track record. Rajiv Gandhi won the seat in 1984, polling an overwhelming 83.7 per cent of the votes in the wake of his mother Indira's assassination. Earlier, in 1980, his younger brother Sanjay had won the seat with 57.1 per cent of the votes.

Five years later, he won the seat with 67.4 per cent of the votes. And he was all set to repeat the feat in 1991, but for his assassination. Thereafter Satish Sharma won the seat twice, before the electorate finally got tired of voting for a proxy.

Captain Sharma's defeat last year was attributed to his arrogance and his refusal to meet local party workers during the election campaign. Some workers even complained to the high command that the party candidate was being insufferable, while others sabotaged his prospects by campaigning for Dr Singh. As a result, Dr Singh got 205033 votes while Captain Sharma got 203283.

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