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by Ashok Kumar
Amethi, from where Sanjay, Rajiv and Sonia started their political life, witnessed last fortnight the entry of the fourth generation of Nehru-Gandhi family-Rahul-from this constituency. The Congress cadres in UP are upbeat that Rahul´s candidature would infuse a new lease of life into the hitherto dormant party workers. In their jubilation, the party strategists seem to have sidelined an important leader-Sanjay Singh, commonly dubbed Raja of Amethi, who enjoys considerable influence in Amethi. His disenchantment with the party was conspicuous by his absence during Rahul´s road show in Amethi, which led to speculation that he is sulking at not being allotted a Lok Sabha ticket. When denied the Amethi seat, Sanjay turned his eye to the adjacent Sultanpur seat. But here too his request fell on deaf ears and to Sanjay´s chagrin, the ticket was allotted to the Gandhi loyalist, Capt. Satish Sharma. And to add insult to injury, Sanjay, according to party sources, was asked to stay away when Rahul was in Amethi. The reason: Till recently Sanjay was in BJP and this may alienate Congress voters. But some sources in the party opine that such a treatment to Sanjay may not only boomerang upon the party but also eat into the party´s vitals. For, Sanjay controls a sizeable number of Thakur and Brahmin votes in the area.
Here it is worthwhile mentioning that since the formation of Amethi parliamentary constituency in 1957, the Congress has always won this seat except on two occasions, i.e. in 1977 after the infamous Emergency and in 1998, defeated by Sanjay Singh on the BJP ticket. So a sidelined and let down Sanjay may prove destructive to the Congress, increasing the chances of Congress´ defeat in Amethi to the third time.
