Amethi : After the announcement by the Congress party of fielding Kishori Lal Sharma from Amethi, the candidate after filing nomination said that the people of Amethi are in his heart and he wants a chance to serve the people.
After filing his nomination from Amethi Lok Sabha constituency, KL Sharma, while speaking to the reporters said, "The people of Amethi are in my heart. I have been here for 40 years. I am following what has been directed to me by the top leadership. I just want people to give me a chance in their service."
He added further, "Who will win or lose from here, it's in people's hands, we will work hard... Election is just a formality, people make their mood for those who work for them. People have this perception that whom they elected earlier was good or bad."
Congress party's KL Sharma will go head-to-head with Union Minister Smriti Irani, who claimed victory over Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, flipping the Congress bastion seat. Sharma who filed his nomination thanked the party for reposing faith in him.
"I would like to thank Khargeji, Sonia ji, Rahul ji, and Priyanka ji for giving a "chotte" karyakarta like me an opportunity to contest from a seat that is their family bastion. I will work hard. I have been working in this constituency for the last 40 years. I came here in 1987 as a Youth Congress member and from then I have been here. I started my career with Rajiv ji.
In 1987, Rajiv ji brought me here. Then the circumstances were such that I stayed here. We made Sonia ji win from here, Rajiv ji win from here," KL Sharma said while speaking to ANI on his candidature.
Earlier, Union Minister Smriti Irani questioned the Congress claiming that by fielding KL Sharma the party had conceded defeat in Amethi. "I welcome the guests to Amethi. The fact that the Gandhis are not fighting in Amethi shows that even before a vote has been cast, they are losing from Amethi. If they had seen even a glimmer of hope, they would have contested and not put up a proxy candidate," Smriti Irani told reporters in Amethi.
Smriti Irani said that Rahul Gandhi's candidature from Raebareli is a "victory" for the people in Amethi. "There has been great development in Amethi...if this much has been accomplished in 5 years out of which two years were lost to the battle against Covid, then why was it not done for 50 years in Amethi by the Gandhi family? I want to assure the people of Amethi that the Modi government will return, and we will continue to work for people here, with development being the centre of our focus.
Today before a vote has been cast, history has been made. I am grateful to the people of Amethi. Today is the victory of the people of Amethi," Irani said. Rahul Gandhi represented Amethi in the Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2019. His father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, too, was an elected member of Amethi in the Lower House from 1981 till his death in 1991. Sonia Gandhi contested elections from here in 1999 before passing the baton on to Rahul in 2004.
Voting in Amethi and Rae Bareli will be held on May 20 in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls. The results of all Lok Sabha seats will be declared on June 4.