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Sonia files nomination from Rae Bareli

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday filed her nomination papers from her family bastion of Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, seeking a fourth consecutive term and the third from the constituency in the coming Lok Sabha elections in India.

“The people of Amethi have always accepted me with a lot of love, and I hope they will elect me again,” she said in brief remarks to waiting journalists outside the district collectorate, with her son and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi by her side.

Sonia, 67, took over as president of the Indian National Congress in March 1998, nearly seven years after her husband and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomber at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991, for the Lok Sabha elections that year.

She was elected for the first time to the Lok Sabha in 1999 from Amethi and from Rae Bareli in 2004 and 2009. Her son Rahul has been representing Amethi since 2004.

Sonia, whose party is the main constituent of the ruling United Progressive Alliance, is also the chairperson of the National Advisory Council.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated a Delhi-based Supreme Court lawyer Ajay Agarwal against her from Rae Bareli. It had originally planned to field its firebrand leader Uma Bharti against her, but that plan did not work out, with the former union minister reported to have been reluctant to give up her allotted constituency of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. She is said to have agreed to contest from Rae Bareli, provided she was allowed to fight from Jhansi, too, a proposal that the BJP leadership shot down quickly.

Agarwal was earlier with the Samajwadi Party and switched to the BJP recently. He is known for having filed public interest litigation in the Taj Heritage Corridor case against former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. He has also argued against the Congress leadership in the Bofors case.

“I will win against Sonia Gandhi and the BJP will create a record in UP and win majority of seats,” Agarwal told newspersons after the BJP announced his nomination.

Earlier, Sonia, chauffeured by her son, were given a huge welcome on their arrival in Rae Bareli and thousands of people lined the streets as they drove to the collectorate to file her papers. Scores of people were seen showering rose petals on their car.

Sonia stopped briefly at the Congress office in Rae Bareli to participate in a religious ceremony there, which has been a family tradition for years.

Later, she drove to Takia, a nearby village to visit the family of the late Ali Miyan, a well-known Islamic scholar.

Rae Bareli used to be the constituency of Indira Gandhi in the 1960s and she was elected from there in 1980. Her husband Feroze Gandhi had won from there in the 1950s.

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