Congress candidate from Amethi constituency Kishori Lal Sharma with others at the party office in Gauriganj, Amethi district, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Photo: PTI)
Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma on Friday said he would prefer Gandhi to fight from the seat but cannot refuse the party’s order asking him to contest the elections.
Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been appointed by the Congress from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, a long-standing bastion of the Gandhi family, which was breached in 2019.
“Even today, I want the Gandhi family to contest Amethi’s election. But I consider it my duty to accept the order of the family,” Sharma told PTI at the Gauriganj Congress office here.
“I have always been a ‘sevak’ of the Gandhi family and whatever responsibility the Gandhi family has entrusted to its sevak, I will fulfill it,” he said.
After days of tension, the Congress on Friday fielded Sharma, a representative of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and before them Rajiv Gandhi, in Amethi, as its candidate for the seat.
Sharma will visit the Collectorate later in the day and submit his nomination papers to district election officer Nisha Anant.
The BJP has fielded sitting MP, Union Minister Smriti Irani, who ended Rahul Gandhi’s three-term streak in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, defeating him by over 55,000 votes.
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First print: May 03, 2024 | 12:37 pm IST