Amethi: At a gathering of people in Amethi’s Bhadar block, Kishori Lal Sharma thanked his fellow Congress supporters who announced that he doesn’t need any introduction. The soft-spoken close aide of the Congress first family, nevertheless, was introduced as the ‘Hanuman’ (read, faithful) of the Gandhis to the crowd assembled there.
But, given that the younger ones in the crowds needed a little background about the Congress candidate, it began on a personal note. “Om Prakash kahan hai? (Where is Om Prakash Yadav?) He had a heart valve disorder for which Sharma ji helped him get treatment in Delhi,” a senior Congress worker asked.
Yadav rose from his seat among the Congress supporters seated behind the dais and folded his hands, greeting the public.
A native of Punjab’s Ludhiana, Kishori Lal Sharma arrived in Amethi as a coordinator in 1983, two years after Rajiv Gandhi first became an MP from the high-profile constituency that was a Congress bastion till Smriti Irani’s win in 2019.
“He was in his early twenties when he first came to Amethi as a coordinator. He was one of the coordinators who were sent to Amethi along with others including Prakash Agrawal, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Chandrashekhar Yadav and Vinod Shukla, who were sent to assembly constituencies,” says Ashok Singh, ex-general secretary of Uttar Pradesh Youth Congress.
“He was first introduced to the Gandhi family by Captain Satish Sharma, who fought from Amethi after Rajiv ji’s assassination (in 1991) and grew close to the family eventually. He built a good rapport with the people of Amethi, and his stature grew after they shared good feedback about Sharma with the Congress leaders.”
Several Congress leaders vouch for his easy-going nature, saying that makes Sharma special and approachable as well.
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‘Just a soldier of Congress’
“I am just a soldier of the Congress. It’s been 40 years that I am here now. I fit in any role they (Congress leadership) give me. At times, they make me AICC secretary. Even today, I am a member of the PCC in Punjab and the member of AICC,” Sharma tells ThePrint in an exclusive interview.
“After Rajiv ji’s assassination, Captain Satish Sharma fought and won twice from here in 1991 and 1996. He lost in 1998 after which Soniaji fought in 1999. Then, from 2004 onwards, Rahul ji fought from here,” he says.
While his performance as a coordinator and the feedback of the public raised his stock in Amethi, Sharma gradually became the eyes and ears of the Gandhi family in Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Over the years, Sharma became the go to person for any exigency — be it medical like in the case of Om Prakash Yadav or any other trouble that reared up in Amethi households.
“He has an easy-going nature. When he was deputed as a coordinator, he would share the high command’s guidelines with local leaders and hold discussions on how to spend the MPLAD fund. It was his honesty and amiable personality due to which, his proximity with the Gandhi family increased. Janta ke sukh-dukh ke baare me Gandhi parivar ko batate rahe (He would apprise the Gandhi family of the people’s problems),” says Om Prakash Singh, a local Congress leader.
From being the point of contact for people of Amethi, Sharma gradually emerged as the campaign manager for the Gandhis in the twin constituencies and also became Sonia’s representative in Rae Bareli.
Today, the people who would follow his directions during Rahul and Sonia’s election campaign, are doing the same for Sharma under his watch.
“My team is trained. They are the ones who fight the election. I would only supervise. I would tell them that they should discuss only major decisions with me; otherwise, they have a free hand. People like Khurshid Miyan and Allu Miyan; they are our campaign managers and I am here because I can rely on them,” Sharma tells ThePrint.
The Congress war-horse is confident about his chances though he admits that he did not get much time for campaign and also misses the star power synonymous with Amethi.
“I asked the people if they’ll be able to campaign…given the less time they have got for campaigning, but they say that they are fighting the election for me. When the public fights the election for you, half of the job is done.”
Asked about the delay in announcing the candidates for Amethi and Rae Bareli and the Gandhi siblings refraining from the contest in Amethi, Sharma reiterates that he himself wanted a Gandhi to contest the election “with all his heart.”
“I was with the people in their demand that a Gandhi family member should fight from here. I wanted them to fight from here with all my heart.”
“Both these seats are very good (for Congress)…even the grandchildren of Congress workers are now working for us…It is true that had Priyanka ji or Rahul ji fought from here, we would have been able to sail through with just a single public meeting. Today, I have to work hard,” he adds.
Like fellow workers and supporters, Sharma’s younger daughter Anjali has joined the campaign and is seeking votes for her father. “My father has served you for 40 years, you have to help him win this time,” Anjali tells the public at one of the meetings.
Along with the lack of star power, Sharma is also up against a belligerent BJP whom he blames for creating disturbances like cracker-bursts and damaging vehicles outside the party’s office in Gauriganj on the night of 5 May.
Party workers whom ThePrint spoke to alleged that it was the handiwork of BJP supporters and the Amethi unit has given a complaint to the police about the incident.
“This has never been the culture of Amethi. Several democratic elections have taken place, but we are seeing this for the first time that some people have come and are bringing in a new trend. After 15 days, the same BJP and Congress workers will meet as they all are connected… But what’s this culture that they are starting that brother is being made to fight brother,” Sharma says, adding that he is not going to get scared of such attacks.
“For the public of Amethi, their association with the Gandhi family is a matter of pride. Earlier, when they would go outside, they were welcomed and today, people ask them why they defeated Rahul ji. People are repenting and taking it as a shame.”
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‘No disconnect with Amethi’
Now that the Congress is banking on him in Amethi, Sharma asserts that election is a game of monitoring. This, he says, was missing in 2019 when Rahul lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani by over 55,000 votes.
“Election is a game of monitoring, whether workers are utilising the resources given to them, whether workers at booth-level are sincere, or have switched sides, or are inactive. These small things happened (in 2019), plus the government played a ‘nanga naach’ (brazen high-handedness) by calling and torturing gram pradhans, kotedars and our workers,” says Sharma.
“This was the first experience for the public of Amethi who never faced such an experience that pradhans are threatened with inquiries if they don’t vote for them. Even if our workers replied to the BJP’s workers’ sleaze on social media, they faced police action. They (BJP) misused state machinery to the hilt.”
But wasn’t there a disconnect between the Gandhis and the Amethi public? Sharma disagrees, adding that the number of visits by the Gandhi family declined only post 2019.
“I bet that Rahul ji spent the maximum time in Amethi than any other Gandhi family member. He was under SPG cover, and you can file an RTI to verify who many times he arrived here. I came here in Rajiv ji’s time and I think, among all Gandhi family members who have visited Amethi, he (Rahul) has visited the most,” he said.
“I know because I have seen the entire family. We would arrange a visit of madam (Sonia) every two months while for Rahul ji, it was either monthly or once in two months. So, he would visit at least seven-eight times every year. In Delhi, an office at 6, Mahadev Road would remain open for people of Amethi all the time.”
It is this association that he is banking upon while seeking votes along with help from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who is campaigning till 18 May for her brother in Rae Bareli and Sharma in Amethi.
Sharma says he knows the drill. “We know how to go about it. We only need her to make a round and meet the public.”
His Brahmin identity is also coming handy in a campaign which is dominated by the BJP’s Hindutva pitch as his rival Smriti Irani harps on Pakistan and Ram temple in her poll meetings.
Brahmin voters form a total of about 18 percent out of the total 17.16 lakh voters in Amethi, according to the local Congress unit. The party is also banking on the Brahmin- Muslim- Yadav formula with the Samajwadi Party by its side.
Undeterred by Samajwadi Party’s Gauriganj MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh and Amethi MLA Maharaji Prajapati’s son Anurag campaigning for the BJP, Congress supporters are flaunting Sharma’s caste among voters. “Na darr hai, na bhay hai…is baar Pandit Sharma tay hai (There is no fear… this time Pandit Sharma is for sure). He will win Amethi come what may,” says Aaftab, a Congress supporter from Amethi.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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