‘Smriti Irani no challenge in Amethi… in 2019, workers said there was no one telling them what to do’: Kishori Lal Sharma

When the Congress declared Kishori Lal Sharma’s candidature from Amethi Lok Sabha seat, it came as a surprise to many since for the past four decades he has been a “backroom boy” for managing elections for the Gandhi family in their pocket borough of Amethi and Rae Bareli. While campaigning in Amethi, Sharma, 63, speaks about his new role, political background, and what went wrong in the 2019 polls when Rahul Gandhi lost to BJP’s Smriti Irani.

Excerpts:

You have managed the poll campaign for Congress and the Gandhi family for the past 40 years. What has changed for you this time?

KLS: There is not much of a change for me. We used to do electioneering with them also. The system is the same. I never did anything alone. I worked with the team, which has now taken the responsibility here. They have been working with me for the past 25-30 years. My team is the same and they have so much experience that sometimes they tell me that it is not like the old times and what new needs to be done. They have the liberty to do what they feel is right, and I am confident of their decisions. So, for me not much has changed as far as the election is concerned.

You talk of things not working like old times. How do you see this election when you have very little time to campaign as compared to your counterpart, BJP MP Smriti Irani? Rahul Gandhi lost from here five years ago.

KLS: The people of Amethi are now feeling that a mistake was made in the past and it needs to be corrected. After the defeat, Rahul ji asked me to do a review, to find out the shortcomings or if the people were angry. I found that there were two things. First of all, there was a lot of pressure from the BJP government and our workers were harassed. Secondly, there were some