Re-creating Indira: Congress wants Priyanka Gandhi to contest from Chikmagalur

Bengaluru, Jan 31: The Congress would go that extra mile to re-energise the party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The party is relying heavily on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who made his foray into politics a few days back.

Now, the Karnataka Congress wants Priyanka to fight the elections from Chikmagalur, a constituency that her grand-mother Indira Gandhi had once represented. Indira Gandhi had four decades back won a by-election from this constituency, following which the party made a comeback.

The Congress was out of power in 1977 following its decision to impose emergency. Indira then contested the by-election from Chikmagalur, following which the party came back to power in 1980.

The Congress said that her win in Chikmagalur had re-energised the Congress.

The Karnataka Congress wants a repeat of that phenomenon. The party wants to create a Congress wave again and they are pinning their hopes on Priyanka Gandhi.

The seat is currently held by Shobha Karandlaje of the BJP. Until the 2004 Parliamentary election, the Chikmagalur was an independent seat. However owing a delimitation exercise, the constituency was merged with Udupi.

The Gandhis have had a close association with Karnataka. While Indira made her comeback from this state, the first appearance a Congress rally was made by Priyanka and Rahul at Bellary. Sonia Gandhi, on the other hand, contested her first election from Bellary and Amethi in 1999.