‘Won’t contest LS election, know you will stand by me’: Sonia to Rae Bareli voters

New Delhi, February 15

Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said she would not be contesting the next Lok Sabha elections but would remain in touch with Rae Bareli, the segment she has represented in the lower House since 2004 and with which the Gandhi family has had deep-rooted and decades-long ties.

Trying circumstances

I will not forget the fact you stood by me through the trying circumstances of the last two polls. Sonia Gandhi, Cong ex-chief

“On account of health and advance age issues, I will not be contesting the next Lok Sabha elections. Because of this decision, I will not have the occasion to serve you directly but my heart and soul will remain with you…. I know that you will stand by me and my family in the future just as you have stood by us in the past,” Sonia said in a message to the voters of Rae Bareli, a day after she filed her nomination for the February 27 Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan.

In her note to the constituents of Rae Bareli, Sonia threw clear hints that a member of her family could be in the offing to contest from the segment that has remained with the Gandhi family for decades.

Sonia recalled to the voters how her late father-in-law Feroze Gandhi was the first MP to be elected from Rae Bareli after Independence.

“After that, my mother-in-law Indira Gandhi represented Rai Bareli and you accepted her. I came to you after losing my husband and mother-in-law and you welcomed me with open arms,” Sonia said in her message, adding the ties of the Gandhi family with Rai Bareli were old and very strong and had grown deeper and stronger along a “tough and trying road”.

Sonia Gandhi also thanked the voters of the Uttar Pradesh segment for electing her in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections despite what she described as “trying circumstances”.

“I will not forget the fact that you stood by me through the trying circumstances of the last two elections,” she said, promising the voters that she would come and see them soon.

Sonia’s message was seen in political circles as a signal that either her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra or son Rahul Gandhi could choose to contest from Rae Bareli in the upcoming 18th General Election.