Meet KL Sharma, Gandhi family confidante, who will fight BJP's Smriti Irani in Amethi

After weeks of speculation, the Congress party has decided that Kishori Lal Sharma will be its candidate from the Amethi constituency in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections. He is all set to file his nomination on Friday (May 3) and will contest against Union minister and BJP MP from Amethi, Smriti Irani.

After more than two decades, a person from outside the Gandhi family will contest from the Amethi seat, considered a Congress stronghold until Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019.

Rahul had represented Amethi from 2004 to 2019, and his mother Sonia Gandhi from 1999 to 2004, when she vacated the seat for her son and moved to the Rae Bareli constituency. Before that, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was the Congress MP from Amethi from 1981 till his death in 1991.

Long-time Gandhi family confidante

A Congress loyalist, Sharma is originally from Ludhiana, Punjab. He was a close associate of Rajiv from 1983, and after his assassination in 1991, continued to work with Captain Satish Sharma in Amethi.

Sharma played an important role in Sonia's first electoral victory from Amethi in 1999 and was her representative in the constituency. In 2004, when Sonia won the Rae Bareli seat and Rahul first tasted victory in Amethi, Sharma managed the Congress party’s affairs in both the constituencies.

Sharma has been playing a crucial role in representing the Gandhi family and in maintaining the party’s presence in the region for almost four decades.

He has done work for the Congress party in Punjab and Bihar as well.

The Congress has decided to field Rahul from the Rae Bareli constituency. Polling is scheduled in both the seats on May 20.