Powering Amethi-Raebareli campaign: Cong invokes Gandhi family’s 100-year-old ties with pocket boroughs

New Delhi: Amethi and Raebareli are the two prestige seats of Uttar Pradesh that will see intense political activity and brisk canvassing over the next few days. All eyes will be on these seats to assess and gauge the public mood here.

Congress, faced with twin tasks of securing Raebareli for Rahul and snatching Amethi from BJP, on Tuesday invoked the Nehru-Gandhi family’s 100-year connection with these pocket boroughs, to develop an emotional connect with the electorate and mobilise them in its favour.

‘Seva sau saalon ka, rishta pidiyon ka’ (100 years of Seva and ties dating back generations) is the party’s punchline for wooing and winning the support of the electorate in these family bastions.

Rahul Gandhi, fighting his first Lok Sabha election from Raebareli, a constituency his mother held four times, on Tuesday shared a 6-minute long video, capturing the Nehru-Gandhi family’s century-old connection with these constituencies.

Sharing the video, Rahul tweeted, “Amethi and Raebareli are not just Lok Sabha seats for us but also our karmabhoomi. Whenever the residents of these constituencies remember us, we will be right there.”

The video features the then pictures and clippings of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi at the hustings in these constituencies.

Over the next few days, the party is likely to push this narrative not just on social media but also promote it aggressively on the ground. With the initiative, they seek to renew the Gandhi family’s age-old connection with people in these bastions and also woo the fresh voters by showcasing the family’s 100-year-old ‘seva’ there.

Priyanka has already been vigorously campaigning in these two constituencies by holding public meetings and organising the nukkad sabhas.

She has been setting the tone of the campaign by asserting from various platforms on how the four generations of the Gandhi family stood with the people of the constituency.

Bhupesh Baghel, former Congress CM, addressing a public gathering today, also invoked Indira Gandhi and said that the people of Raebareli will not just vote for electing a Lok Sabha member but for electing the country’s next Prime Minister, this time.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is also set to visit Raebareli on Wednesday and campaign for Rahul.

Notably, Rahul Gandhi is the Congress candidate from Raebareli while Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma is the party’s pick from the Amethi constituency.

Both Raebareli and Amethi will vote in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20.