Who is KL Sharma, Congress's pick for Amethi seat
After weeks of deliberations and talks, the Congress on Friday nominated Kishori Lal Sharma for the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, breaking the long-standing tradition of fielding candidates from the Gandhi family. Sharma will contest the Lok Sabha election against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Rahul Gandhi from the seat in 2019. Here is a little insight into who Sharma, a longtime Gandhi family loyalist, is:
Sharma's long association with the Congress
Hailing from Ludhiana, Punjab, Sharma has been associated with the Congress since 1983, when he began working with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. After Rajiv was assassinated in 1991, he worked with veteran Congress leader Captain Satish Sharma in Amethi. According to reports, Sharma played a crucial role in Sonia Gandhi's first win from Amethi in 1999. He oversaw party affairs in Amethi and Raebareili after Sonia left the seat for her son Rahul in 2004.
Sharma is 3rd non-Gandhi family member picked by Congress
The last time a non-Gandhi family member was fielded from Amethi was in 1998, when the Congress nominated Captain Sharma. Sharma, however, lost to Sanjay Singh of the BJP. Vidya Dhar Bajpai, a Congress leader, was the first Amethi MP in 1967. He won the elections again in 1971. Amethi has been a bastion for the Congress since the constituency's establishment in 1967, with a few exceptions in the 1970s and 1990s and in 2019, when Irani defeated Rahul.
Congress picks Rahul from Raebareli
This time, the scion of Gandhi's family, Rahul, will contest both the Raebareli seat in Uttar Pradesh and the Wayanad seat in Kerala. Both Rahul and Sharma will file their nomination papers today—the last day for filing nominations for the fifth phase of the election. The two seats will go to the polls on May 20.
