It seems that the Congress is slowly realising the threat of defeat that its party president faces in the Lok Sabha constituency of Amethi. Amethi which was once considered the pocket borough of Nehru-Gandhi family is set to witness a high voltage contest between the Congress president and Union Minister, Smriti Irani. Ever since the BJP announced the candidature of Smriti Irani from Amethi, the grand old party seems to be getting really nervous. The party seems to be trying hard to find another seat for its president fearing a humiliating defeat in Amethi.
In fact, a proposal for Rahul Gandhi contesting from another seat was made even before Irani’s candidature was announced when the Karnataka Congress had urged Rahul Gandhi to contest from the state. Recently, the Kerala unit of Congress also proposed that Rahul Gandhi should contest from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. The constituency is considered a Congress bastion. This strongly suggests that the grand old party might be searching for a safe seat for the party president. While making this proposal it was argued that contesting from two seats, one in northern India and one in southern India “will strengthen national unity and integration”. It was also argued that this would boost the morale of the party workers.
In what strongly corroborates the premise that these were not mere proposals but the Rahul Gandhi party is actually trying to find a second seat for him, Republic has reported that the Amethi unit of the Congress has urged Rahul Gandhi to contests from the South as well. Yogendra Mishra who represents the Congress in Amethi has written a letter to the party president asking him to accept the request of contesting from a seat in Southern India as well. The letter read, “Rahul Gandhi is a member of Parliament from Amethi constituency. The party works from southern India has invited Rahul Ji to fight elections. To accept this request would be honouring the workers on North and South India”. In his letter, he also called Rahul Gandhi the “next Prime Minister of India” and gave the example of how Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi had also contested Lok Sabha polls from Southern India and Northern India.
It is clear that the grand old party fears an imminent defeat. The BJP has gained a clear advantage over the Congress in the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. The 2014 Lok Sabha polls made it clear that the Nehru-Gandhi family is no longer invincible in Amethi. In the 2009 general elections, Rahul Gandhi got 71.78% of votes however in the very next 2014 general elections, Rahul Gandhi’s vote share saw a sharp decline of more than 25% to just 46.71%. BJP candidate, Smriti Irani was able to capitalise on the Congress president’s falling popularity even as the party registered a massive increase in its vote share from just 5.81% votes in 2009 Lok Sabha elections to 38.31% votes in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, even though the BJP candidate, Smriti Irani had lost from Amethi in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, she did have a very realistic chance of defeating her rival. The popularity of Congress has only declined over the last five years and as such the grand old party cannot afford to take any risk as far the candidature of its president is concerned. It would be rather humiliating for the Congress if it fails to send its party president to the Lok Sabha. This explains why the grand old party has started searching a second seat for Rahul Gandhi.