Amethi: What went so horribly wrong for Congress President Rahul Gandhi that he lost from his familys pocket borough Amethi Lok Sabha constituency? Ask local leaders and people and they cite reasons like Congress turncoats benefitting BJP’s Smriti Irani and apparent lack of interest of Rahul as well as his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra this time. Rahul, who was elected three times consecutively from the constituency in 2004, 2009 and 2014, lost this time by over 55,000 votes.
The only other time that a Gandhi family member has lost from this constituency, created in 1967, was in 1977 and it was Rahul’s uncle late Sanjay Gandhi who was defeated in an anti-Emergency wave. “Why will anyone vote for such a person who does not visit the people of his constituency,” posed Surendra Singh, a resident of Buraulia in Amethi, while referring to Rahul. He said the Congress chief had visited Buraulia three years ago and did not visit here even in the election season. Significantly, Rahul was conspicuous by his absence even during the day of polling in the constituency while his rival Irani was active.
Vishun Kumar Singh, a resident of the Nara village, said the virtual absence of Rahul and Priyanka from Amethi during the elections had hurt them badly. “Earlier Priyanka Gandhi used to camp in Amethi and Rae Bareli and would take care of the campaigning. But this time, both of them were busy in campaigning in other parts of the state,” he said. “In their absence, the campaign carried out by the local leaders hardly generated any buzz among the people,” Singh said. Rakesh Singh, a local Congress leader, said the party was very weak in Amethi organisationally as compared to the BJP. “Had we not been weak, we would not have lost four out of five Assembly seats of Amethi Lok Sabha constituency in the 2017 Assembly polls,” he said. He said turncoats and BJP’s four MLAs brought votes for their party in Amethi, making a huge dent in the Congress votes.
