The Gandhi family’s man Friday of 40 years gets the Congress Amethi ticket

Kishorilal Sharma, 63, originally from Ludhiana, first came to Amethi as part of an initiative by Rajiv Gandhi to set up a youth brigade to monitor development works in his seat

Now, after decades of managing the family's elections in both Amethi and Rae Bareli and acting as a mediator between the family and its constituents, 63-year-old Kishorilal Sharma will be fighting his first election.

The candidate chosen by the Gandhi family to carry the baton forward on their turf Amethi is a soft-spoken close aide going back to the time of Rajiv Gandhi, earning his stripes for his election management and coordination skills.

Now, after decades of managing the family’s elections in both Amethi and Rae Bareli and acting as a mediator between the family and its constituents, 63-year-old Kishorilal Sharma will be fighting his first election.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sharma acknowledged his long association with the Congress. “I have served the region for 40 years and know Amethi very well. I came here in 1983 as a Youth Congress representative to work for Rajiv (Gandhi) ji and have remained here since then. Except 1981, I managed all of Rajiv ji’s remaining elections.”

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Priyanka, whose name was said to be in contention for either the Amethi or Rae Bareli seats, welcomed the choice of Sharma. “Our family has had long association with Kishorilal Sharma ji. He has always been dedicated to serving people of Amethi and Rae Bareli,” she posted on X.

Later in the day, she told media persons in Amethi, “He is a very good choice. He has been handling Amethi for a long time. When I had managed election for the first time in 1999, we had done it together. He knows every village and lane of Amethi.”

Party sources said that Sharma, originally from Ludhiana in Punjab, was first picked up under a programme launched by Rajiv, who had made his electoral debut from Amethi in 1981, to identify a young brigade from outside the region to monitor development works in his seat.

As part of this, Sharma, then in his 20s, was initially made in-charge of the Tiloi Assembly constituency under the Amethi Lok Sabha seat.

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Gradually, Sharma became part of Rajiv’s team as he re-contested Amethi, in 1989 and then 1991. He continued to play the same role after Rajiv’s assassination, when Captain Sharma contested from Amethi.

After Sonia Gandhi made the electoral plunge in 1999, Sharma’s role expanded. When Sonia moved on to Rae Bareli in 2004, and Rahul Gandhi made his entry into politics from Amethi, Sharma started looking after both the constituencies.

In 2004 and 2009, he was the backroom man in Amethi and Rae Bareli seats, for Rahul and Sonia, respectively.

In 2014, however, as per sources, Rahul expressed a desire to have his own team in Amethi. After this, Sharma concentrated on mainly Rae Bareli.

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A senior leader in Amethi hinted that Rahul’s loss to BJP leader Smriti Irani from 2019 may not be delinked from the change. Praising Sharma as “a very soft-spoken and humble person”, the leader said: “The fact remains that the Congress’s victory margins in Amethi were high till the time Sharma was managing the polls, and dropped drastically by 2 lakh when he left, though there were other factors as well. Plus, Rae Bareli (which Sharma continued to manage) has been retained by the party.”

Apart from his duties in Amethi and Rae Bareli, Sharma has also served as AICC secretary in-charge of Bihar.