Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, by filing nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan on Wednesday, has brought the curtains down on her 25-year-long stint as a member of the Lok Sabha, the two-and-a-half decade long journey witnessing the high of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance forming government twice and the low of the party plunging to its lowest ever score in the lower house of Parliament.
The 78-year-old leader makes the transition from the house of the people to the house of elders, bidding adieu to the heat and dust of electoral politics because of health reasons. The development is in keeping with the Congress veteran retreating from the hustle and bustle of politics over the past few years, which became clear with the change of guard in the party.
Gandhi had in 1999, around two years after she had taken the political plunge, contested the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and Bellary in Karnataka. She had won from both the seats and decided to retain Amethi, a Gandhi family stronghold.
The Italian-born bahu of the Gandhi family had taken her first nervous steps into the world of politics, taking over the reins of the Congress and making her electoral debut at a time when the Congress was going through a low phase. She was the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha from 1999 to 2003. She appeared a misfit in the beginning but impressed her supporters and critics alike by not just negotiating her way through the political maze but also mastering it with her sheer grit and common sense.
In 2004, she led the Congress to a surprise victory in the Lok Sabha elections. In that election, she had moved from Amethi to the neighbouring seat of Rae Bareli, leaving Amethi for son Rahul, who made his Lok Sabha debut that year.
When she was embroiled in the office of profit controversy on account of being the chairperson of the National Advisory Council, she had submitted her resignation as Lok Sabha MP on March 23, 2006. She was re-elected from Rae Bareli with a margin of over four lakh votes in May 2006.
She won a third time from Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, when the Congress won 206 seats, the highest number of seats to be won by a single party since 1991.
However, in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the Congress plunged to just 44 seats. The party won only two seats in Uttar Pradesh, the family pocketborough of Amethi and Rae Bareli. In the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, Gandhi won again from Rae Bareli, but Rahul lost from Amethi. In that election, the Congress' tally increased slightly, inching up to 52.
With Gandhi vacating Rae Bareli, it is being speculated whether daughter Priyanka could make her Lok Sabha debut from the seat which she has for many years cultivated on her mother's behalf. However, as per Congress sources, there is no confirmation yet on the Gandhi family's plans with regards to fighting elections from Amethi and Rae Bareli.
While Gandhi will no longer occupy the front row in the Lok Sabha, where her last major speech was with regard to the women's reservation bill, she will continue to tower over the party's parliamentary delegation on account of her presence in the Rajya Sabha. She is expected to continue to be the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party.
