Gandhi & Gandhi

The coming Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh will prove a litmus test for two mother-son duos - that too, from the same Gandhi clan. Interestingly, both the mother-son duos will contest from the adjacent constituencies but in different parts of the state. Congress President Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli and her son, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi from Amethi will be the first pair contesting the LS polls for the second time. But making his maiden debut in Parliamentary elections is Varun Gandhi, the BJP candidate from Pilibhit, while his mother and former union minister Maneka Gandhi will try her luck to enter the Lok Sabha for the sixth time. Maneka is the widow of late Sanjay Gandhi and sister-in-law of Sonia Gandhi.
The similarities do not end here. Just like Sonia, who left the pocket borough of Amethi for Rahul and moved to Rae Bareli to fight the election in 2004, Maneka too has left her safe and 'sure' Pilibhit seat for son Varun. She has now moved to Aonla, a comparatively new seat, to contest the polls. Aonla seat is currently held by Kunwar Sarvraj Singh who had won it on the JD(U) ticket in 2004. The JD(U), being an NDA constituent, has agreed to leave the seat for Maneka Gandhi after she talked to JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav directly, sources said.
The entry of Varun Gandhi in the electoral fray is similar to that of Rahul Gandhi for whom his mother and the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi left the Amethi seat, which she won in 1999.