Can KL Sharma be an accidental choice for the Congress? After maintaining suspense till the eleventh hour, the Congress party has finally announced its candidates for both of its hot seats: Amethi and Raebareli. While, till Thursday night, speculations were doing rounds that both the Gandhi siblings would be contesting from these constituencies, the picture got clear on Friday morning, only to surprise everyone.

Kishori Lal Sharma aka KL Sharma has been a confidante of Sonia Gandhi and has been seeing Raebareli as her representative for a long and is known as a close aide to Rajiv Gandhi but even the party workers didn’t know he would be fielded from Amethi.

Sharma hails from Ludhiana, Punjab, and stepped in Amethi and Raebareli with Rajiv Gandhi in 1983. He came closer to the Gandhi family after the assassination of Rajiv in 1991 which jolted the whole nation. He continued working in these constituencies for the who’s who of the Congress party and then in 2004, when Sonia Gandhi took the charge of Raebareli, it was KL Sharma who kept representing her in the territory.

Also read: Lok Sabha 2024: Rahul Gandhi Moves To Raebareli, KL Sharma Nominated For Amethi By Congress

Kishori Lal Sharma is not a new name in either of the territories. He kept working for Congress even when biggies of the party chose to leave the party for ‘better options’. This confidante of Sonia was given the responsibility to work for the Bihar elections, he remained a member of AICC but maintained a low profile. Little did anyone know that he would get a chance to contest against Smriti Irani in Amethi. It is perhaps the result of his loyalty towards the Gandhis that brought him this ticket. With this announcement at the last moment, how is he going to perform against BJP’s Smriti Irani is yet to be seen but this candidature has definitely lifted his profile in the party.