After Sonia’s RS shift, BJP sets eyes on Cong’s last citadel in UP

LUCKNOW Unmindful of the general impression that Priyanka Gandhi was the ideal replacement for her mother and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on the Rae Bareli seat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now started looking into the prospect of fielding a strong candidate on the seat.

Senior BJP leaders point to how despite her win against her former aide Dinesh Pratap Singh in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Sonia’s victory margin dipped to lowest since 2004, when she first contested the polls.

“Someone strong will contest from Rae Bareli, which was among the seats we had lost in 2019 Lok Sabha elections and was among the high-focus seats. Now, let us figure out who will be Sonia ji’s replacement in Rae Bareli,” BJP leaders said.

Sonia’s victory margins from Rae Bareli were astounding to begin with – from 2.5 lakh votes in 2004 Lok Sabha polls to 4.17 lakh votes in 2006 by-polls, when all her opponents forfeited their deposit, 3.7 lakh in 2009 and a still impressive but a touch lower 3.5 lakh victory margin in 2014, the year of Modi’s epochal ascendancy.

“After Rahul Gandhi’s switch to Kerala following his defeat in Amethi, now Sonia ji’s move to Rajya Sabha is a clear signal that even they realize that nothing can stop BJP from winning all 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP this time,” BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi told HT.

Trivedi, also the party’s national spokesman, has been renamed for the Rajya Sabha from UP and is all set to win a second consecutive term.

BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya said the Gandhis have deserted their bastions in UP. “After the Amethi defeat, Rae Bareli was next. Sonia Gandhi’s decision to shift to Rajya Sabha is an admission of defeat,” said Malviya in a post on X. The Congress is in talks with the Samajwadi Party for an alliance in UP, but Malviya claimed that despite the alliance, the Congress would draw a blank in UP.

Between 2014 and 2019, the BJP engaged in a series of efforts to weaken the Congress’ grip in its pocket borough of Amethi and Rae Bareli.

While Smriti Irani, who took on Rahul Gandhi in Amethi and brought down his victory margin noticeably from 3.7 lakh votes in 2009 to 1.7 lakh in 2014, was rewarded with a cabinet berth in Modi’s government for her spirited fight in Rae Bareli, the BJP engineered key defections in Rae Bareli.

Aditi Singh and Rakesh Singh, lawmakers of Rae Bareli (Sadar) and Harchandpur, the two lone assembly segments from where Congress had won in 2017 UP polls, joined the BJP and were made to contest against Congress on the same seat in 2022 UP polls and from where both won.

In 2018, the BJP also got Congress MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh to defect and was made to contest against Sonia Gandhi. The impact of this continuous focus on the twin constituencies led to the loss of Amethi in 2019 even as the victory margin of Sonia Gandhi drastically dropped to 1.6 lakh in Rae Bareli.