After Indira Gandhi, another member of the Gandhi family may represent Telangana in Parliament if the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee’s desire to impress upon Sonia Gandhi to contest from Telangana in the ensuing Parliament elections fructifies.
Her candidature for any seat in Telangana will be a smooth affair for her given the warmth with which people see her in the newest State of India. The reason is that the Telangana society considers that a separate Telangana wouldn’t have been a reality without her decision. In fact, former chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao too admitted on the floor of the Assembly that without Sonia Gandhi’s initiative carving out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh wouldn’t have been possible.
Precisely, this is the reason why the Telangana Congress wants her to contest in 2024, in perhaps what could be her last competitive election. It wants to repay the gratitude on behalf of Telangana people for what she did to make the 60-year-old dream for a separate State come true against all odds.
This is what Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy argued in the recently held Congress party Executive Committee meeting that unanimously adopted a resolution asking her to contest from Telangana.
Sonia may send Priyanka to Telangana
Sources said Ms. Gandhi has not totally rejected the persuasion of the Congress leaders but it would be another emotional moment for her to leave the Rai Bareli constituency that she presently represents and come to Telangana. A senior leader admitted that the party may opt for Priyanka Gandhi if Ms. Sonia Gandhi is unwilling to accept the request. “The picture is still hazy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Revanth Reddy and senior ministers have already finalised two constituencies — Nalgonda and Khammam — from where she could be fielded and where she would win hands down. “There is no seat in Telangana where Sonia Gandhi cannot win for the kind of emotional bond she shares with Telangana,” says Minister for Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy.
The other options are Mahabubnagar where Congress has swept the Assembly polls. Medak could be another blinder for Ms. Gandhi from where her mother-in-law and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was elected in the most difficult times of her political career.
If the Congress wants to evoke another Telangana sentiment it could choose the Karimanagar constituency which has a special place in Ms. Gandhi’s heart. It was here in the 2004 elections that she sent a strong message to the people that Telangana would be a reality if Congress was elected to power. “Your dreams will come true” is what she said in a public meeting in 2004. Moreover, Congress is looking strong in the district now winning majority Assembly seats defeating the BRS in its traditional stronghold.
